Lake Powell

Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. Second in size only to Lake Mead, it can store up to 7.9 trillion gallons (29.9 trillion liters) of water when full. That’s almost 12 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

This Timelapse shows how dramatically water levels have declined here in recent decades. As of April 2022 — the final frame — Lake Powell’s elevation had dropped to 3,522.24 feet (1,073.58 meters), just 22.88% of its total capacity and the lowest level since the reservoir was filled in 1963. In the years since, above-average snowpack in the Rockies has brought a modest recovery, but levels remain historically low.

In this image from 2019, a pale “bathtub ring” of exposed rock marks where the shoreline once reached — a stark reminder of how prolonged dry spells shape the landscape.

—

Source imagery: Maxar
Timelapse via Google Earth
Aerial photo by @rainer042