#SNOW STORM TOTALS COLORADO FULL#

“We need to continue to plan for the worst here,” Udall told KUNC in January. Brad Udall, a water and climate researcher at Colorado State University, said the region would need five or six years with 150% snowpack to refill Lake Powell and Lake Mead Two decades of lower snow and drier soil have chipped away at water supplies, and the seven states that use the Colorado River have struggled to agree on a plan to reduce their demand.Ĭlimate scientists stress the need to adapt demand in a way that works with current conditions and steels the region against a future that will likely bring even drier conditions. Those flows go on to replenish Lake Mead and Lake Powell – the largest and second-largest reservoirs in the U.S., respectively – which have both dipped to historic lows in recent years. Runoff season typically peaks around late May or early June. But the rapidly accelerating effects of climate change mean the current window from 1991 to 2020 sticks out from previous 30-year periods because it includes the hottest-ever period in recorded history. In spring 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shifted how it calculates averages for all of its data.Įvery 10 years, NOAA moves the three-decade window that it uses for averages. Scientists have recorded years with 90% of average snowpack, only to see 50% of average runoff into reservoirs.Įven the concept of “average” has changed due to warming temperatures. That soil acts like a sponge, soaking up water before it has a chance to flow downhill to streams and lakes. That could prevent some melting snow from ever reaching the Colorado River. This year, soil moisture in the mountains is well below average. Scientists look to soil moisture for a clearer picture of how much water will actually reach the places where humans divert and collect it.

#SNOW STORM TOTALS COLORADO FULL#

When it comes to predicting the amount of water in the Colorado River each year, snow totals don’t tell the full story. The dividing line often falls in the middle of Colorado. Its effects are not guaranteed, but typically mean a colder, wetter winter for the northwestern portion of the country, and a warmer, drier winter in the Southwest. La Niña is a weather phenomenon during which cold water in the Pacific Ocean alters temperature and precipitation patterns over the Western U.S. Precipitation totals are “exceeding expectations because La Niña conditions usually result in drier than average winter weather across the southwest U.S.,” said Cody Moser, a hydrologist with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center. Rain and snow in the Lower Basin is typically less important for the Colorado River’s flow, but is helpful for plants, farms and ranches, and wildfire mitigation.

The Virgin, Little Colorado and Verde rivers all saw January precipitation above 200% of normal. The Lower Colorado River Basin – which includes parts of Nevada, Arizona, and California – also saw strong precipitation. Meanwhile, the lowest January precipitation totals were along the Eagle River in central Colorado, and the Green River above Fontenelle Reservoir in Wyoming. The Gunnison, Dolores and San Juan rivers all saw January precipitation that ranged from 160% to two times the average. In the Colorado River’s Upper Basin – which includes parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico – the strongest precipitation fell in southwestern Colorado, according to data last month. The new data come from the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, a branch of the National Weather Service that tracks water along a river which supplies 40 million people around the Southwest. Many parts of Utah are showing snow totals above 170% of average, boosting the odds of above-average runoff in the spring, and fostering memorable seasons for the area’s ski resorts. Northwest Wyoming and central Utah, which also contribute to the basin’s water supply, posted January snowfall totals that nearly broke precipitation records.

Snow storm totals colorado