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<br />GLEN CANYON -Unregulated inflows to Lake Powell dropped to about 73 percent of nortnal in February <br />and actual inflows into Lake Powell varied between about 7,000 and 9,000 cfs. Lake Powell current <br />reservoir elevation is now about 3678 feet with a Ii ve storage of 21.0 MAF. <br /> <br />Current snowpack conditions have held fairly steady over the last few weeks and the basinwide snowpack is <br />about 88 percent of nOrtnal. The distribution of the snowpack is relatively unifortn, <br />with most subbasins between 80 and 100 percent of nortnal. <br /> <br />The National Weather Service forecast issued on March 4 predicts a spring runoff volume for 1999 of 84 <br />percent of nortnal. March releases have been reduced slightly to about 13,500 cfs, with weekday and <br />Saturday hourly flows fluctuating between about 9,500 cfs and 17,000 cfs, and Sunday flows fluctuating <br />between 9,500 cfs and 14,000 cfs. <br /> <br />With this snowpack and forecasted spring runoff, it is still possible that April and May releases will be <br />reduced to an average of about 12,000 cfs. However, much of the snow accumulation season still remains, <br />and late winter and spring precipitation will probably alter the expected runoff and releases. Our website at <br />www.uc.usbr.gov will be updated monthly to show expected releases for the remainder of the water year. <br /> <br />With respect to the triggering of a BeachlHabitat Maintenance Flow (BHBF), the current spring runoff <br />forecast would not indicate that a BHBF is likely this year. This is particularly true for the next few months. <br />The releases this spring are less certain. Since Lake Powell is targeted to be nearly full in <br />July, it is possible that a wet spring may force an unexpected BHBF. Since Lake Mead contents are <br />expected to be greater than that of Lake Powell, equalization releases as specified in the 1968 Colorado <br />River Basin Project Act are not expected to occur in water year 1999. <br /> <br />I <br />