Wondering how our current snowpack stacks up against last year and the historic average? Storms this past week added about four inches of water to the Upper San Juan SNOTEL site on Wolf Creek Pass!
Currently, the site hold 17.6 inches of water, which is about a foot more water than we had last year at this time! Although the site is still about 87% of normal (a 2.7-inch deficit), the Wolf Creek Summit Snotel site, which sits at 11,000 feet, is reporting 21.7 inches of water, which is 100% of normal.
Lower in the watershed, my global science students measured 3 inches of water in the 10-inch snowpack that currently covers the PSHS campus. Earlier in the week, rain actually fell in most locations below 8,000 feet due to the storm's warm, sub-tropical moisture tap.
January was slightly cooler than normal, which means we maintained more of the lower elevation snowpack than we have in recent years. The low elevation Nordic skiing opportunities have been phenomenal especially compared to last year!
Overall, Colorado's snowpack is in great shape. All of the river basins are at least 100% of normal. The Upper San Juan and Wolf Creek sites are next to the red arrow (they nearly plot over each other at this scale).
Since February is usually a big snow month, we need moisture to continue to track our way to avoid falling behind. Fortunately, the long range forecast looks interesting!