Thesouthwest United States is currently experiencing three years of droughtcausing water shortages and low lake levels, and now anEl Ni�o event is occurring. This study first assesses thecurrent drought in the southwest United States, and then evaluateswhether anticipated hydrologic impacts from the El Ni�o event aresufficient to end drought conditions. Drought conditions for the ColoradoRiver basin are evaluated using 80 years (1923?2002) of streamflowdata from two United States Geological Survey (USGS) stations locatedin the Upper Colorado River Basin (the Colorado River nearCisco, Utah and the Green River near Green River, Utah).Comparisons of historical cumulative streamflow deficits for droughts during thistimeframe are examined. [...]
