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Southern Colorado snowpack remains above average
Rio Grand Basin tops in state at 30% above average
Herald Staff Writer
The numbers, released Wed-nesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, also show area reservoir levels just above normal, at 105 percent of average.
Snowpack totals were higher in southern Colorado basins, which reported moderate to high snowpack levels, compared with northern basins, which were only slightly above average. A record December for southern Colorado is likely responsible for the disparity, though northern basins received more snowfall in January than did southern basins.
"We had a really huge month in December. We went from well below average to well above it," said Mike Gillespie, snow survey supervisor with the NRCS. A weather station in downtown Durango recorded 45 inches of snow in December, 1 inch shy of the record 46 inches recorded in 1967.
The snow survey numbers are formed of monthly averages at the state's major river basins. They measure the water equivalent of snow on the ground.
The Rio Grande River Basin snowpack was the highest above the average at 130 percent - 30 percent above the average. This year's statewide average is 17 percent above average.
The snowpack in the basins that encompass the San Juan, Animas and Dolores rivers is 116 percent of average, but only 75 percent of last year.
If not for storms in the last weekend of January, it's likely northern basins would be reporting below-average snowpack numbers.
"Overall, the January storms helped to even out the snowpack percentages across the state," said Allen Green, state conservationist for Colorado with the NRCS.
Gillespie said Colorado's reservoir storage levels are in good condition across most of the state. The service compiles the averages from Southwest Colorado's four largest river basins - the San Juan, San Miguel, Animas and Dolores rivers. The six regional reservoirs included in the survey are Groundhog, Jackson Gulch, Lemon, McPhee, Narraguinnep and Vallecito.
A front-loaded Colorado snowfall is slightly unusual and so is a heavier snowfall in the southern part of the state. Taken together - two years in a row - experts notice.
"I think it's just a coincidence is all it is. I have nothing to attribute it to. Just looking at the sequences of data - it stands out," Gillespie said.
gandrews@durangoherald.com
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