Upper Colorado River Basin Suffers From Driest Winter in Years

The driest December on record along the Colorado River has been followed so far by a dry January, leading to low runoff projections for the river’s Upper Basin, based on National Weather Service precipitation forecasts, the Bureau of Reclamation reported Friday.

The January unregulated inflow forecast for Lake Powell—the primary reservoir for the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—is 60% of the 30-year average from 1981 to 2010, the bureau said. Actual December inflows were at 46% of average. “That’s low,” said Patti Aaron, bureau spokeswoman in the Lower Basin.

• Last year at this time, unregulated ...