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up front Friday 17 March 2023
Drought over? Spring outlook finds relief -- and flood risk

From Front are set for the year. The lined other predictions for
reservoirs are used to man- temperature, precipita-
By S. MONTOYA BRYAN age Colorado River water tion and drought over the
Associated Press deliveries to 40 million peo- next three months, saying
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ple in seven U.S. states and the spring wet season is ex-
— Record snowfall and Mexico. Lake Powell could pected to improve drought
rain have helped to loosen gain 35 feet (11 meters) conditions across parts of
drought's grip on parts of as snow melts and makes the northern and central
the western U.S. as national its way into tributaries and Plains and Florida could see
forecasters and climate ex- rivers over the next three dryness disappear there by
perts warned Thursday that months. How much it rises the end of June.
some areas should expect will depend on soil moisture Overall, the West has been
more flooding as the snow levels, future precipitation, more dry than wet for
begins to melt. temperatures and evapo- more than 20 years, and
The winter precipitation ration losses. many areas will still feel the
wiped out exceptional and Two palms trees are backdropped by snow-covered mountains Paul Miller, a hydrologist consequences. The north-
extreme drought in Califor- in Hesperia, Calif., March 1, 2023. with the National Weather ern Rockies and parts of
nia for the first time since Associated Press Service's Colorado Basin Washington state will likely
2020, the National Oce- this spring in the upper Mid- a year before the extra River Forecast Center, said see drought expand over
anic and Atmospheric Ad- west along the Mississippi moisture has an effect on that sounds like a lot of wa- the spring, while areas of
ministration reported Thurs- River from Minnesota south the shoreline at Lake Mead ter for one of the nation's extreme to exceptional
day in a seasonal, nation- to Missouri. Despite the re- that straddles Arizona and largest reservoirs, but it still drought are likely to persist
wide outlook that came as ceding drought, experts Nevada. And it's unlikely will be only one-third full. across parts of the southern
parts of the state are under cautioned that the relief that water managers will "It's definitely moving in the High Plains.
water. In neighboring Ne- may be only a blip as the have enough wiggle room right direction, but we're far An emergency declaration
vada, flood warnings were long-term effects persist to wind back the clock on from filling the reservoirs in in Oregon warns of higher
in effect and rushing water from what has been a stub- proposals for limiting water the Colorado River system risks for water shortages and
prompted some evacu- born dry streak. use. That's because water and we're far from being at wildfires in the central part
ations overnight in one of Groundwater and reservoir release and retention oper- a comfortable point from a of the state, and pockets of
Arizona's tourist towns. storage levels — which take ations for the massive reser- water supply perspective," central Utah, southeastern
Elsewhere, NOAA's forecast much longer to bounce voir and its upstream sibling Miller said during Thursday's Colorado and eastern New
warned of elevated flood back — remain at historic — Lake Powell on the Utah- NOAA briefing. Mexico are still dealing with
risks from heavy snowpack lows. It could be more than Arizona border — already Federal forecasters out- extreme drought.q

Alaska volcanoes now pose lower threat, after quakes slow

By MARK THIESSEN status from “Watch” for Several quakes per minute America and Asia, and 1700s and again in 1829.
Associated Press both Tanaga and Takawa- continue to be recorded health problems for com- The observatory has said
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ngha volcanoes on remote under Tanaga Island, and munities farther away. there are no known erup-
— Diminished earthquake Tanaga Island, located the largest recorded in The nearest community, tions of Takawangha or Sa-
activity led authorities about 1,250 miles (2,012 ki- the last day was a magni- Adak, is about 65 miles (104 jaka.
Thursday to reduce the lometers) southwest of An- tude 3.1 between the two kilometers) to the east, on a However, field work has in-
warning levels at two vol- chorage. volcanoes, separated by separate island. dicated that eruptions may
canoes on an uninhabited A swarm of earthquakes about 5 miles (8 kilome- The last known eruption have occurred from those
island in Alaska’s Aleutian between March 9 and 11 ters). During the peak, the for Tanaga was in 1914. It volcanoes and misattrib-
chain because of the de- signaled the increased quakes had magnitudes erupted twice in the late uted to Tanaga.q
creased potential for erup- chance of eruptions. How- up to 4.0.No other signs of
tions.The Alaska Volcano ever, since then, the rate unrest have been detect-
Observatory lowered the and magnitude of quakes ed, a statement from the
warning level to “Advisory” have decreased. observatory said.
Tanaga is the middle of
three volcanoes on the is-
land, with Takawangha lo-
cated to the east.
A third volcano on the is-
land, Sajaka, is about 2
miles (3 kilometers) to the
west of Tanaga, and was
not showing any sign of
activity.
Since the island has no resi-
dents or structures, there
was little chance of dam-
age from the thick, viscous
lava flows in an eruption.
However, an ash cloud
This photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. could pose threats to air-
Geological Survey shows the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, craft, potentially disrupting
Alaska, on May 23, 2021. air travel between North
Associated Press