YOUR AD HERE »

State’s snowpack drops again amid warm spring

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Continuing warm temperatures are eroding the Colorado Rocky Mountain snowpack as seen here, Monday, June 5, 2006, near Avon, Colo. Warm and dry weather caused Colorado's snowpack to further drop in May, ending any hope of an above-average water runoff this summer after what appeared to be a promising winter, federal officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin)
AP | AP

DENVER – Warm and dry weather caused Colorado’s snowpack to further drop in May, ending any hope of an above-average water runoff this summer after what appeared to be a promising winter, federal officials said Monday.

The statewide snowpack dropped from 65 percent of average on May 1 to 26 percent on June 1, said Allen Green, the state conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. On April 1 – before the warm, dry spring caused rapid melting – the snowpack was measured at 94 percent of average.”With snowmelt tracking anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks earlier than normal, we’ve already seen peak flows pass on a number of the state’s rivers,” Green said.

The agency said the state could expect only a near-average runoff season in most river basins, with the dry spring significantly affecting water supplies across most of Colorado.



Southwestern Colorado has been hit the hardest, with the snowpack just 11 percent of average in the Rio Grande Basin and 6 percent in the San Juan, Animas and Dolores basin.Meanwhile, reservoir storage across most of Colorado was at 99 percent of average, which the agency attributed to storage of the early snowmelt.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.