Healthy runoff

Bad news for the alarmists who only a few months back were issuing doomsday reports about Lake Mead running dry within as few as six years.

On Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that abundant mountain snow throughout the West means at least a temporary break from the drought conditions that have dominated the region since 1999.

"The Colorado mountains are poised to unleash more runoff than they have in 11 years," The AP noted. "Streams in Washington and Oregon are forecast to carry up to 50 percent more water than usual. Lake Powell, stretching more than 100 miles across Utah and Arizona, is expected to rise 50 feet from its current depleted state."

Tom Perkins, a senior hydrologist with the National Water and Climate Center in Portland, Ore., said the picture is bright. "Overall, the entire West looks pretty good, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest in particular," he said. "There's no part of the West that's really what you'd call hurting."

Last June, after University of Colorado scientist Bradley Udall told a Senate committee that Lake Mead could be a dust bowl within a decade, we asked him to put his money where his mouth was.

He wrote us a friendly response, but declined.

The offer still stands, Mr. Udall.