Federal forecasters dramatically cut their estimates Friday for how much water will flow down the Colorado River this year — projections that now thrust the Trump administration into politically contentious decisions about how to operate the river’s dams. The Feb. 1 forecast the Colorado Basin Forecast Center released last week projects the amount of water flowing from the river’s headwaters into Lake Powell this year will be one-third less compared with its already grim Jan. 1 forecast. … The new forecast comes at a critical moment for the management of the drought-riddled waterway, which serves 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles to Phoenix. The Interior Department’s deadline for a major new water-sharing deal is less than one week away.

Other snowpack and streamflow news in the West:

• AP News: Record snow drought in Western US raises concern for water shortages and wildfires
• KJZZ (Phoenix): The Colorado River is having its driest winter in decades
• KSL (Salt Lake City, Utah): Storm pattern to break up Utah’s dry stretch, but will it help record-low snowpack?
• Cowboy State Daily (Cheyenne, Wyo.): Wyoming might finally get a big dump of snow and then more snow
• Arizona Daily Star (Tucson): Bad runoff forecast boosts chances of court fight over Colorado River
• FOX5/KVVU (Las Vegas, Nev.): Man walks across Colorado River amid low water levels