Despite burst of January snow, mountain snowpack stays grim with record low levels at some sites

Colorado mountain snowpack has bounced back a bit but remains exceptionally low, with the latest data showing the statewide average at 64 percent of the norm, and water suppliers say they’re anxious about prospects for drought.

The snowpack at nearly a quarter of the federal government’s 200 monitoring sites around Colorado measured at the lowest or second lowest snowpack ever recorded, according to Brian Domonkos, supervisor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service snow survey.

In southern Colorado river basins, the federal data through Feb. 7 showed snowpack in the Rio Grande River basin measured 33 percent of normal. In the combined San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan River basins, snowpack measured 35 percent of normal.

Northern Colorado fared wetter. Survey crews measured snow depths in the South Platte River basin that serves as a main source for metro Denver and northeastern farm fields at 93 percent of normal, and in the North Platte River basin at 88 percent of normal. The snowpack in the upper Colorado River basin that also is a key source of water for booming Front Range cities measured 79 percent of normal.

Read more: https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/07/colorado-mountain-snowpack-stays-near-record-low-levels/