FLAGSTAFF, Ariz — Central Arizona's water supply is doing well, according to the Salt River Project, despite it being the driest monsoon season on record.
It's all thanks to the 2022-2023 winter season in Arizona's high country
"We had 13 feet of snow in the Flagstaff area, which is well above average," said meteorologist Tony Merriman with the National Weather Service Flagstaff office.
The Flagstaff area sees around 7 feet of snow during a typical winter. In the 125 years of record keeping, Merriman said the 2022-2023 snowfall total ranks as a top five winter for the NWS Flagstaff office.
Not all good news
But too much of a good thing can also be destructive. By springtime, the snow rapidly melted and rushed downstream. Numerous neighborhoods across Arizona experienced flooding. The rushing water left lasting impacts on the communities it swept through. And even with all that water, it didn't wash away Arizona's drought.
"We've been in a drought since 1995," Tim Skarupa, the SRP watershed management manager said. "When we have these extended droughts, we have these still occasional wet years, and this is one of those occasional, phenomenal wet years."
Roughly 2.5 million Arizonans get their water from SRP. Tap water for much of central Arizona begins as rain and snow in the high country. In the spring, the precipitation melts and flows into the Salt and Verde rivers. The water collects into seven lakes, which are also SRP reservoirs, or places to store water. The reservoirs release the water through dams. SRP controls the dams and releases the water into canals downstream. Dams are also used to produce hydroelectric power for Valley homes.
A lot of energy was needed during the summer months to cool homes, during the hottest summer on record. Monsoon season normally helps simmer the sizzle, but this year, rain gauges at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport received 0.15" of rain – far below the average of 2.44 inches.
"Most of the water supply does not come from the monsoon season," Skarupa said. "Generally 85% of the water stored in our reservoir system comes from the winter precipitation."
Thanks to that 13 feet of snow, the water supply for central Arizona is looking better.
"Reservoirs are pretty full, we're really in a healthy state right now," Skarupa said."
As of Oct. 2, SRP's total reservoir system is at 85%, compared to where it was exactly a year ago, at 64%.
Looking ahead to this coming winter, climate prediction experts are forecasting for an El Nino winter. For central and southern Arizona, "it looks like the probabilities are just slightly tilted to above average precipitation for this coming winter," Merriman said,
But for Northern Arizona, "equal chances so a coin flip," Merriman said.
Whichever way the coin flips, Arizona will still be fighting a drought.
"We do have to always conserve and be conscious of the way we use water.," Skarupa said.
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