NASA · Friday, September 18, 2026
Lake Powell drops to a record low in NASA’s Friday image
The File desk · Sep 18, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC
Status
Confirmed (NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day, Sept. 18, 2026)
NASA’s Earth Observatory Image of the Day for Friday shows Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam at record-low levels after a weak Upper Colorado snowpack in 2025–26 and unusual warmth. A Landsat 8 comparison of Sept. 1, 2017, and Sept. 10, 2026, puts the 2026 water surface at 3,517.24 feet — after the lake dipped below the prior record low of 3,519.92 feet set April 13, 2023. The story says the lake first hit a record low on Aug. 15, 2026, and kept falling into early September. Lake Mead also hit record lows in August 2026 in the same piece.
NASA’s Earth Observatory Image of the Day for Friday shows Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam at record-low levels after a weak Upper Colorado snowpack in 2025–26 and unusual warmth.
A Landsat 8 comparison of Sept. 1, 2017, and Sept. 10, 2026, puts the 2026 water surface at 3,517.24 feet.
That is after the lake dipped below the prior record low of 3,519.92 feet set April 13, 2023.
The story says the lake first hit a record low on Aug. 15, 2026, and kept falling into early September.
Lake Mead also hit record lows in August 2026 in the same piece.
What is still unknown or disputed
- Day-to-day hydrology after the Sept. 10 image date should be checked against Bureau of Reclamation tables if used beyond this NASA snapshot.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Lake Powell Drops to Record Low Levels
NASA Earth Observatory / NASA Science · September 18, 2026
In the 2026 image, the water level stood at 3,517.24 feet. About a month prior, it had dipped below the previous record-low level of 3,519.92 feet, set on April 13, 2023, and continued to tick downward in early September.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/lake-powell-drops-to-record-low-levels/