LAS VEGAS — Federal water managers are due to release a monthly projection of water levels at Lake Mead on Monday, and the rain in May might change what they said.
Last month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported that the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam could reach a low point in January 2017 that would force supply cuts to Arizona and Nevada.
Officials heading water agencies in the two states and California took a wait-and-see approach, and pointed to fluctuations in regional precipitation since January.
Then, May became the wettest May on record for the lower 48 states dating to 1895.
Texas and Oklahoma were the soggiest.
Six of seven states that draw water from the Colorado River reported precipitation levels above 100 percent of normal.
California reported 70 percent.