Deep snowpacks bode well for water supplies
Heavy snows good news for cities along Front Range
Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published December 31, 2005 at midnight
Early season snowpacks in the high country, critical clues of annual water supplies, have climbed above average for the first time in eight years, giving water officials hope that the state's drought recovery is well under way.
Statewide snowpacks registered at 104 percent of average Friday, compared with the 99 percent mark measured at this time last year, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
"Things are looking pretty optimistic right now," said Mike Gillespie, snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. "We've got a good early start to this winter season."
The agency tracks snowpack using a combination of automated data from remote mountain sites and manual readings in each of the state's eight river basins.
Monthly, from late December through early June, Gillespie's team collects dozens of snow- core samples and analyzes data to help predict water supplies for the coming year.
This season's early, heavy snows are especially good news for the Front Range because the mountain watersheds critical to the urban corridor's water supplies are seeing some of the deepest snow levels in the state.
In the Upper Colorado Basin, for instance, snowpack is a healthy 135 percent of average, while in the South Platte Basin, snowpack is measuring 129 percent of average. Those two regions are responsible for nearly all of metro Denver's annual water supplies.
"Metro-area water suppliers should be able to look at filling their reservoirs this year," Gillespie said.
Southwestern Colorado, however, has little to cheer about. Basins such as the San Miguel/Dolores and the Upper Rio Grande are alarmingly dry, with early snowpacks registering just 41 percent and 31 percent of average, respectively.
"We have parts of the state that are well below average," according to Gillespie.
"They could be looking at severe (water) shortages this summer if things don't turn around."
smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5474
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