Arizona is on FIRE!

SDDiver5

Expedition Leader
I'm in Clairemont the wooded canyon parallel to 52 between 805 and 5 is ready for some weak assed pyro to torch. I wouldn't fault the Forest Service to severly limit into our pristine areas in the West.
I know the spot you're referring to. Lots of cool Gazebos on the edge of the properties up there. I live near Kate Sessions park in PB and my street is a dead end street with a large canyon that goes up to Mt. Soledad. One wrong move and the whole thing is going to light up.
 

AbleGuy

Officious Intermeddler
AZ State Trust Lands Are Also Now Closed
State officials closed state trust land throughout Arizona for recreational activities at 8 a.m. on Friday. That includes hunting, camping and off-roading. Arizona has more than 9 million acres of state trust lands. Arizona trust lands are scattered throughout the state, with the majority of it being in rural areas. For more information, click/tap here.
 
Last edited:

Rando

Explorer
Here are the annual precipitation trends for the past 30 years:

trends-prcp-ann-30year-full.gif


Sure looks to me that the southwest is drying. Notice this is in inches per decade- so '2' means the precipitation has decreased by ~6" in the last 30 years. Given that much of the SW only gets 10 - 20" of precip a year, this is a huge decrease.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
We've had a couple of dry years here in Grand Junction but that's of course just one data point.

precip-charts.png

But the drought is pervasive in the Colorado River basin. This year has seen about 3 million acre-feet inflow, which is 18% of the Compact assumption (16.5 million total including 1.5 million allocation promised to Mexico) and probably about 25% of the realistic annual average (about 12 million).

Yet usage remains constant so we're drawing down the bank. At least one of our water companies here have been taking their Colorado River allotments this year for the first time in 40 or 50 years because our reservoirs didn't fill much this year. Most of our water comes from a different source. We expect senior rights holders to want their Colorado allotments so it's anyone's guess how long we can take them.


lakepowellconditions.png

Lake Mead stands at 1,068.55 feet above sea level as of July 5, 2021. That puts it at about 35% of full pool and 151 feet below max elevation of 1,219 feet.

lakemeadconditions.png

The Compact restrictions and triggers.
  • Light shortage. When the surface elevation at Lake Mead is below 1,075 feet relative to mean sea level but above 1,050 feet, the Lower Basin states will receive 7,167,000 acre-feet per year: 4,400,000 acre-feet to California, 2,480,000 acre-feet to Arizona, and 287,000 acre-feet to Nevada.
  • Heavy shortage. When the surface elevation of Lake Mead is below 1,050 feet but above 1,025 feet, 7,083,000 acre-feet per year will be delivered to the Lower Basin states: 4,400,000 acre-feet to California, 2,400,000 acre-feet to Arizona, and 283,000 acre-feet to Nevada.
  • Extreme shortage. The most severe shortage considered in the interim guidelines is when the level of Lake Mead drops below 1,025 feet, in which event 7,000,000 acre-feet per year will be delivered to the Lower Basin states: 4,400,000 acre-feet to California, 2,320,000 acre-feet to Arizona, and 280,000 acre-feet to Nevada.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
188,025
Messages
2,901,294
Members
229,411
Latest member
IvaBru
Top