How does the current snowpack in the Southern San Juans stack up against the 4 worst years in recent history? This graph shows the season-long accumulation of the snowpack at the Upper San Juan SNOTEL site.
Surprisingly, the 2018 snowpack (in red) is ahead of the 1990, 1996, and 2000 snowpacks. Interestingly, for each of those years, the snow finally started accumulating in mid February and then additional storms added significant gains in March as well. However, all 3 years fell short of the April 1st median of 31 inches of snow water equivalence (SWE).
In comparison, the 2002 snowpack started out better than 2018, but the lack of snow particularly in January and February led to the worst drought on record. In summary, most likely we will end the season below average, but we need a consistent storm track for the remainder of the year to avert another drought like 2002. Don't hold your breath, but there may be moisture in store this weekend!