Excessive winds, low temperatures and tons of snow: The weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day introduced massive storms to Colorado that disrupted each day life and added a much-needed enhance to the state’s water provide.
Previous to final weekend, the state’s snowpack — a significant water supply for all Coloradans — was missing. December was the seventh warmest December on document. The snow in many of the state’s river basins was nicely beneath common with some basins experiencing document lows. However the latest winter storm boosted a lot of the state nearer to common situations.
“There’s areas which might be nonetheless beneath common, however not as far beneath common,” mentioned Becky Bolinger, Colorado’s assistant state climatologist based mostly at Colorado State College. “When you requested me per week in the past, issues appeared much more regarding than they appeared immediately.”
The storm system got here from the northwest, picked up moisture from the ambiance and dropped a couple of foot of snow throughout a lot of the Western Slope. Routt County, for instance, received 20 to 30 inches of snow over the weekend.
Wind gusts reached 65 mph in areas above 10,000 ft. The very best winds clocked in at 118 mph close to Copper Mountain on Saturday. Roads closed. A whole bunch of flights had been canceled. Motorists confronted whiteout situations. Weld County noticed its temperatures drop to 36 levels beneath zero Monday evening. Since Friday, 300 avalanches have been reported.
“I nonetheless haven’t skilled above freezing temperatures but, since Friday,” mentioned Bolinger, who is predicated in Fort Collins.
This Recent Water Information story is a collaboration between The Colorado Solar and Water Training Colorado. It additionally seems at wateredco.org/fresh-water-news.
A useful enhance for Colorado’s snowpack
Colorado continues to be catching up from a gradual begin to the snow season and the nice and cozy December temperatures. Final weekend’s storm dropped 1 to 2 inches of snow-water equal, the quantity of liquid water that continues to be after snow melts, throughout the state.
As of Wednesday, Colorado’s snow-water equal was 90% of the historic median, based mostly on knowledge from 1991 to 2020, in keeping with the Pure Sources Conservation Service.
River basins throughout the state are all hovering beneath the historic median. The Higher Rio Grande Basin, which extends south from the river’s headwaters close to Creede, had the bottom snowpack at 72% of its historic median, as of Wednesday.
The Colorado headwaters, the place the Colorado River begins on the Western Slope, had the very best snowpack Wednesday with 95% of its historic median.
To date, the climate hasn’t been carefully following the El Niño sample, which tends to favor snow in southern Colorado and skip northern Colorado, Bolinger mentioned. Nonetheless, she’s maintaining an in depth eye on the northern basins for indicators of snow drought.
Local weather specialists are anticipating that winter precipitation this 12 months will possible be barely beneath common, with the caveat that there’s a number of time left within the season for issues to vary.
“This storm will clearly enhance up these water provide forecasts,” Bolinger mentioned. “However this can be a good reminder that we nonetheless have a number of season left. We might have a number of issues occur between now and the start of April that may alter … that water provide forecast.”
What’s subsequent for the Colorado River Basin
The brand new snowfall within the Colorado Headwaters Basin and northern Colorado is an effective signal for the Colorado River, mentioned Paul Miller, a service coordination hydrologist on the Colorado Basin River Forecast Middle.
The snowpack in that basin ceaselessly provides the Colorado River Basin with about 25% of its total streamflow. That basin, in flip, gives water to 40 million individuals throughout seven Western states, 30 Native American tribes and elements of northern Mexico.
Snowpack within the Higher Colorado River Basin, which incorporates Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, contributes as much as 95% of the water that in the end flows into the Colorado River, Miller mentioned.
The Higher Basin snowpack is about 88% of its historic norm, which is a pleasant restoration from the start of the month when it was at about 65% of regular, he mentioned.
“We’re trending upwards. The storm system that got here by means of within the final week or so was actually helpful to the basin,” Miller mentioned. “Final 12 months at the moment, only for some perspective, we had been at 146% of regular.”
Extra water can be useful to the Colorado River Basin’s system of reservoirs, which act as financial savings banks for water customers in drier years.
The water stage at Lake Powell, an immense reservoir positioned on the Utah-Arizona border, is predicted to drop this 12 months. Powell ended September 2023 at about 3,574 ft in elevation. By September 2024, it’s going to fall to about 3,563 ft.
The drop is principally because of the Bureau of Reclamation’s present plan to launch 7.48 million acre-feet of water from Lake Powell for Lake Mead, in accordance with present interstate water sharing guidelines.
An acre-foot is a unit of quantity. It equals the quantity of water it takes to cowl one acre, in regards to the measurement of a soccer area, in a single foot of water. One acre-foot of water equals about 326,000 gallons. >> MORE
One acre-foot helps two households of 4 to 5 individuals for one 12 months.
These elevations are nowhere close to the reservoir’s full capability of about 3,700 ft, however they’re above the 2022 water ranges, which hovered between 3,522 ft and three,539 ft in elevation.
These historic lows heightened issues among the many basin’s water managers a couple of water provide disaster. At 3,490 ft, the ability plant at Glen Canyon Dam can now not generate electrical energy for about 5 million clients throughout Arizona, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Extra storms to come back
Areas of Colorado will proceed to see snow storms by means of the tip of the week and into the weekend, mentioned Lucas Boyer, a meteorologist with the Nationwide Climate Service.
The Western Slope, which ultimately feeds water into the Colorado River, will get snow showers Thursday and Friday earlier than a brief lull. Over the weekend, one other storm will come up from the Southwest bringing snow to the mountains in southern Colorado.
Which means snow into the start of subsequent week for some areas of the state, Boyer mentioned. This subsequent storm, nevertheless, will carry much less moisture, which suggests it’s going to have a smaller influence on the state’s water provide.
“It’s going to transfer the needle, nevertheless it’s not going to be a seismic shift,” Boyer mentioned.
