While California has faced recent downpours, water levels at Lake Mead sit at just 33 percent full.
Lake Mead, in the Colorado River system, is an important supplier of water to the Golden State. It is the largest U.S. reservoir by capacity, with the ability to hold over 26 million acre-feet of water—the volume needed to cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot. The reservoir supplies vital water to millions across Nevada, Arizona and California.
The Los Angeles Times described a “wet winter” for the state, while ABC7 reported that Southern California was recovering from several days of showers. A powerful atmospheric river system swept over the state during Christmas week, prompting widespread weather alerts, Newsweek previously reported. But while parts of the state have faced rain, as of January 2, storage in Lake Mead—situated east of Las Vegas, Nevada—was about 8.6 million acre-feet—roughly 53 percent of the average storage for this date, according to data from the United States Bureau of Reclamation…