Waking up to nearly two feet of fresh snow was a great way to start 2019! The New Year's Storm ranks as one of the top storms of the decade! Wolf Creek Ski Area received 34 inches of fluff and nearly everyone in the the Southern San Juan foothills awoke to 1 to 2 feet of new snow. So how does the current snowpack compare to last year and the norm?
After a snowy October, November was a disappointment, and so was much of December. Which is why the recent storm was an incredible boost to another below average snow season. The New Year's Storm added an additional 1.8 inches of water to the Upper San Juan SNOTEL site bringing the total to 7.1 inches of water frozen in the snowpack, which is much better than last year's meager 2.7 inches of water. Normally, we have 14.9 inches on water on this date so we're about 50% of normal at an elevation of 10,200 feet.
The latest storm seemed to target our area's exceptional drought zone, since precipitation amounts correlate well with the dark red areas on the map below. We are still in a deficit from the 2018 drought, so hopefully more storms will track our way.
Statewide, the Southern San Juans have the lowest snowpack because most of the storms have tracked to the north. But, there is still plenty of time to catch up and the storm predicted on Sunday should help!
