{"id":65904,"date":"2019-06-20T15:14:14","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T21:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowpack-is-3328-above-average-but-theres-a-catch\/"},"modified":"2019-06-20T21:14:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T21:14:14","slug":"snowpack-is-3328-above-average-but-theres-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowpack-is-3328-above-average-but-theres-a-catch\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowpack is 3,328% above average, but there\u2019s a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Snowpack
Snowpack in Southwest Colorado is listed at more than 3,000% above normal, but that number needs to be put in context, experts say.<\/span>Courtesy of Natural Resources Conservation Service<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Yes, Southwest Colorado\u2019s snowpack was listed at 3,328% above historic averages Wednesday. But no, that doesn\u2019t tell the whole story about the remaining snow high in the San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very eye-catching,\u201d Brian Domonkos, a snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said of the number. \u201cBut unfortunately, it\u2019s not the easiest way to relay (how much snowpack is left in the San Juan Mountains).\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly every day, the NRCS updates the amount of snowpack<\/a> in eight river basins throughout Colorado. In Southwest Colorado, which accounts for the Animas, Dolores, San Juan and San Miguel basins, about 19 sites ranging in elevation from 9,000 to 11,600 feet track snowfall throughout the year.<\/p>\n

The maps, Domonkos said, are more useful in the middle of winter, when there\u2019s a strong base of snow to compare with previous years. Later in the season, however, the numbers jump around and are not as effective in communicating the actual amount of snowpack in the high country.<\/p>\n

<\/p>

As of Wednesday, there was about 5.2 inches of snow-water equivalent<\/a> across the Southwest Colorado basins. The percentage of normal is so high because the median for June 19, based on 30 years of record-keeping, is 0.2 inches of snow-water equivalent.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy June 19, the snow is usually all melted out, at least from where we measure,\u201d said Peter Goble, a climatologist with the Colorado Climate Center. \u201cThat\u2019s why those numbers are so jarring.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past winter brought a robust snowpack to the San Juan Mountains, Goble said, one of the best in the last 40 years. Then, a colder-than-normal May (the coldest since 1995) set the conditions for snowpack to linger in the high country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why, when you compare this year to the average, the numbers tend to jump off the charts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But this year, snow remains in the high country that has yet to come down: As of Wednesday, about 18% of this winter\u2019s total peak snowpack had yet to melt \u2013 meaning the region has likely already hit peak river flows<\/a> and the amount of runoff is steadily on the decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth mentioning our (weather) sites sit at set elevations, but there is snow still above those elevations,\u201d Domonkos said. \u201cBut even still, the elevations above our monitors are not the significant driver for runoff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snow tracking sites, too, vary throughout the basin. On Wolf Creek Pass, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, there\u2019s nearly 20 inches of snow-water equivalent. But at Molas Lake, at an elevation of 10,500 feet, there\u2019s no reported snow-water equivalent left.<\/p>\n

Despite all the variations, most of Colorado\u2019s reservoirs are expected to refill after one of the worst drought years in recorded history in 2017-18.<\/p>\n

Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs, for instance, are about 90% full. Both reservoirs, east of Durango, were at near record lows this fall and winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like many reservoirs in the state will fill,\u201d Goble said. \u201cEven some of the ones that were critically low over the winter following the drought in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, it appears winter hasn\u2019t totally released its grip on Southwest Colorado: The National Weather Service is calling for a slight chance of snow in the high country Saturday night.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Colorado Snowpack Map (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eye-popping number isn\u2019t best indicator this late in the year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1164,295,414,88,1163],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-65904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-snow","tag-water","tag-weather","tag-weather-news","tag-weather-science"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65904"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=65904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}