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Colorado snowpack tops 140% in good year
Reservoirs remain low
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 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. e Colorado River Basin includes seven states, with Colorado, New
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.