One of America’s largest reservoirs just hit a record low
Lake Powell has reached record-low water levels due to a combination of snow drought and warm conditions in the Colorado Basin. This decline threatens water and electricity supplies for millions of people across the U.S. Southwest.
Why it matters
The crisis highlights the severe impact of climate change on critical water infrastructure and the sustainability of major urban centers in the American West.
Snow drought and unusually warm conditions across the Colorado Basin in 2026 sharply reduced water flowing into major reservoirs across the U.S. West.
By summer, the effects of the weak 2025-2026 mountain snowpack in the Upper Colorado Basin had reached Lake Powell. With far less snowmelt than usual feeding the Colorado River, inflows dwindled, and the second-largest reservoir in the United States fell to record-low levels in late August and early September.
Lake Powell Falls Below Its Previous Record
Satellite images captured the dramatic change in Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam. The images were collected by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) aboard the NASA-USGS Landsat 8 satellite on September 1, 2017 (left), and September 10, 2026 (right).
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