Early winter rain and snow across the interior West have improved the outlook for springtime flows on the Colorado and other rivers that supply the Southwest.
The Colorado River Basin Forecast Center on Friday released a forecast projecting that the river and its tributaries would pour about 99% of normal flow into Lake Powell by April, though that’s based on a new and not-so-improved normal afflicted by climate change.
The center, an agency of the National Weather Service, last summer updated the watershed’s long-term baseline to reflect the last 30 years of flows, which were deeply reduced by drought...