Airborne surveys show more than 90% snowpack loss in Arizona’s Upper Black River Basin

Airborne snow surveys in the Upper Black River Basin of eastern Arizona showed snow water equivalent falling from about 11.7 million m3 (9.5 thousand acre-feet) on February 23 to about 987 000 m3 (0.8 thousand acre-feet) by March 12, 2026, a decline of more than 90% in less than three weeks. The basin feeds the Salt River system upstream of Roosevelt Dam, part of the reservoir network supplying water to more than 2.5 million people in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Source