Thanks to the series of winter storms rural Nevada has received in the last two months, the Walker River Basin has reached an all-time high of record snowpack. As of March 6, 2023, reports show that the Walker Basin’s snowpack is at 237 percent more than March 6 of last year, and 216 percent above the entire last season’s total.
Due to the high evaporation rates in the Walker River Basin, the salinity and water level of Walker Lake is very sensitive to changes that happen to its tributary inflow. Most of the flow originates from the snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada but much of it in the last decade or so has succumbed to agricultural diversion and thus not reaching the lake.
The Walker Basin Conservancy has been working to restore and maintain the water levels within Walker Lake to protect all agriculture, environmental, and recreational interests by purchasing water rights, while hoping to bring back the habitat and ecosystem that once thrived there.
According to the USGS (United States Geological Survey) Walker Basin Hydro Mapper, Walker Lake is 41 percent full (its water storage is at 952,400 acre-feet while 100 percent full volume is 2.3 million). This is in relation to its restoration goal of bringing the lake’s salinity level down to an amount where fish can persist again.
At this point, Walker Lake’s level has been static (its water storage was at 41 percent back in January after the series of rainstorms) but is expected to rise as the snow melts in the next few months.
“We’ve been tracking it pretty closely and this year seems to be on par with the 2017 season,” says USGS Hydrologist Gwen Davies. She explains that currently the snow water equivalent is at 50 inches, whereas the last time it was that high was on April 1, 2017, where they recorded it at 52 inches. In an average year, the Walker Basin receives half or even a quarter of that amount and Davies says that the snow water totals were significantly lower last winter season.
“In 2022 we had 15 inches of water equivalent and [on March 6, 2023] we recorded 48 inches at Walker River,” Davies says. She adds that they haven’t seen an increase in the lake water levels yet, but they are looking forward to seeing a big impact in streamflow in the next six months as the snow melts off the mountains. Around April 1 is when the Basin really starts seeing the stream inflows as the weather starts warming up.
“In 2017 the lake level increased 10 inches over six months, so this is good news for Walker Lake,” Davies says.
Lake Tahoe has also been breaking records in snowfall for the 2022-23 winter, receiving the most snow since 1970. On March 6, 2023, Palisades Tahoe announced that almost two feet of fresh snow fell at the resort in the last 24 hours, putting its season total at 575 inches.
