LAKE POWELL, Utah — Like accountants use the fiscal year, water experts have their own calendar. The water year begins in October and ends in September.
For Lake Powell, it's supposed to look like this:
But here's the current water year:
Those charts show the volume held by the lake.
The chart below shows the surface elevation on July 31 for the last 20 years. The straight, darker line at the top shows the median for July 31.
Imagine you were in a boat on the lake every year on this day.
If a time machine took you from last year to this, your boat would drop 52 feet.
If the time machine took you from 10 years ago to this year, you'd drop 107 feet.
And if you went from an average year to this year, it would be 117 feet.
