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With our snowpack suffering, water outlook is weak

Season’s end may be ‘as good as it’s going to get’ in the area

The outlook for water in Southwest Colorado this spring and summer isn’t favorable, the April snowpack report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service says.

The snowpack in the combined Animas, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel river basins was 79 percent of the 30-year median April 1; however, this week’s storms brought the basins up to 82 percent.

If it’s any consolation, the combined snowpack this April 1 is 111 percent of what it was last year on the same date.

There’s a chance late storms could increase the snowpack for the southern San Juan basins, but it’s unlikely since the maximum level is generally reached in the first week of April.

In other words, it’s as good as it’s going to get for the Animas, Dolores, San Juan and San Miguel basins.

The dearth of snow in the southwestern corner of the state this year resulted from the continuation of storm patterns of previous months, which is to say the most potent storms sailed to the northern San Juan Mountains, the NRCS report said.

“Storm systems in the southern mountains were few and far between,” the report said.

April marked the third consecutive month the snowpack in the southern mountains tracked below normal, the report said.

Overall, the statewide snowpack is above normal – 115 percent of the median on April 1 and 156 percent of the April 2013 number.

But storms carried less moisture in March than in previous months. As a result, the major basins showed a slight decrease in snowpack.

Only two basins – the Colorado and the combined Yampa, White, North Platte – had snowpack percentages higher than last month.

Storms have provided runoff that improved storage in reservoirs statewide.

Reservoir storage in the Animas, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel basins was 82 percent of average, compared with 66 percent at this time last year.

Statewide, reservoirs held 89 percent of their average, compared with 69 percent a year ago.

daler@durangoherald.com



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