Colorado snowpack tops 140% in good year

BY JERD SMITH FRESH WATER NEWS

Colorado is awash in white this spring, with statewide snowpack topping 140% of average this week, well above the reading a year ago, when it stood at just 97% of normal.

“Conditions in the American West are way better than they were last year at this time,” state climatologist Russ Schumacher said at a recent joint meeting of the Water Availability Task Force and the Governor’s Flood Task Force. “In Colorado we went from drought covering most of the state to most of the state being out of drought.” e snow is deepest in the southwestern part of the state, where the San Juan/Dolores river basin is seeing a snowpack of 179% of average. e Yampa Basin, in the northwest corner of Colorado, is also nearing historic highs, with snowpack registering 145% of average, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Survey. ere is considerably less white stu east of the Continental Divide in the Arkansas River Basin, where snowpack remains slightly below average and in the South Platte Basin, where snowpack is just above average. e outlook for the seven-state e Colorado River Basin includes seven states, with Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming comprising the Upper Basin and Arizona, California and Nevada making up the lower basin. And it is in the mountains of the Upper Basin, especially in Colorado, where most of the water for the entire system is generated. at Colorado is seeing such spectacular snow levels this spring, bodes well for everyone. “ is is good news for the Colorado River Basin, no doubt about that,” Schumacher said.

Like other Western states, mountain snowpacks in Colorado are closely monitored because as they melt in the spring and summer, their runo delivers much of the state’s water.

A drought considered to be the worst in at least 1,200 years has devastated water supplies across the West. While no one is suggesting the dry spell is over, Colorado water ofcials said 2023 will likely allow for a signi cant recovery in reservoirs and soil moisture.

Colorado River Basin has improved dramatically as well, with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in its March 15 report, showing that Lake Powell is likely to see some 10.44 million acre-feet of new water supply by the end of September, or in ows at 109% average.

Still the drought-strapped Colorado River system will see little storage recovery this year, according to Reclamation, which is forecasting that Lake Powell will see storage at just 32% of capacity by the end of the year. It had dropped to just 23% of capacity last year, prompting ongoing emergency releases from Utah’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir to help keep the system from crashing.

Within Colorado, statewide reservoir storage this month stands at 80% of average, up slightly from this time last year when it registered 75% of average.

Reservoirs within Colorado are expected to see a signi cant boost in storage levels. Colorado’s largest reservoir, Blue Mesa, was just 36% full earlier this month, but is projected to receive enough new water this year that it will be 71% full by the end of the year, according to Reclamation.

Flood task force o cials said the deep snows, particularly in the southwestern and northwestern corners of the state, could cause ooding this spring and summer, especially if there is a series of hot, dry, windy days or major rain storms.

“We are blessed in large part because our snowpack tends to run o in a well-behaved manner,” said Kevin Houck, section chief of watershed and ood protection at the Colorado Water Conservation Board. “But I will say that I am watching things more closely this year. It’s not just the presence of snow that creates our problems. It needs to have a trigger as well. e classic trigger is the late spring warmup. And what can cause even more damage is when we get rain on snow as well.”

Fresh Water News is an independent, nonpartisan news initiative of Water Education Colorado. WEco is funded by multiple donors. Its editorial policy and donor list can be viewed at wateredco.org

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