Timelapse Shows Lake Powell's Water Level Rise

Satellite images of Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona show how much the nation's second-largest reservoir has improved with its water levels.

After battling a yearslong drought that severely depleted its reserves, Lake Powell's water levels began recovering in April after an exceptionally wet winter on the West Coast. Not only was California pummeled with a deluge of rain, mountains in the region also saw above-average snowfall, meaning that as the snowpack melts throughout the spring and summer, the reservoir's water levels continued to improve well into the summer. A timelapse video consisting of two photos that was shared to Twitter by water-data.com on Saturday shows the extreme difference in Lake Powell's water levels.

Satellite images were taken at Bullfrog Bay and Halls Creek Bay in Utah. The contrast in images shows Lake Powell's lowest and highest levels in 2023, with the difference being a staggering 65 feet.

The first image is from Lake Powell's lowest point in April just before the reservoir started improving. In that image, Halls Creek Bay is nearly arid while Bullfrog Bay is very depleted. The image then transitions to the lake's highest points in 2023, which occurred in July. Both bays are now much fuller, as can be seen by their expanded footprint.

"This is what ~65 feet of water looks like from space," @water-data.com tweeted on Saturday.

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Pastelok told Newsweek on Monday that as the heat increases during the summer season, water demand also increases, and Lake Powell's levels will begin to level off or decrease.

Meanwhile, the water levels are up more than 45 feet over the highest water levels in 2022, and approximately 65 feet higher than this year's low. Nearby, Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona has also risen throughout the spring and summer. Lake Mead's water levels are slowly continuing to rise, whereas Lake Powell's levels have started to taper off as of early July.

Last year, Lake Powell and Lake Mead were so low that experts feared the lakes could reach dead pool sooner than expected, in which the reservoirs are so low that water can no longer flow downstream. However, the risk of dead pool has been averted, albeit temporarily. Despite the reservoir's recovery, water levels have started to taper off as the summer progresses.

Levels are expected to decline before the wet season starts in the fall. The hope for a full recovery is slim, as Jennifer Pitt, the director of the National Audubon Society's Colorado River Program, previously told Newsweek that the region would need three years' worth of average snowfall with no water use for the reservoir to recover.