Warm weather turns loose snowmelt

Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 17, 2006 at midnight

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Mountain communities are keeping an eye on runoff-swollen streams as warm weather settles over Colorado, opening the spigot on snowmelt.

The highest temperatures so far this season are predicted in the next few days, including near 90-degree readings in Denver and 70s in mountain valleys, said Mike Baker, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

The warm-up is expected to lift nighttime readings above freezing at high-elevation snowfields, causing sustained, around-the-clock melting, he said.

Computerized readings by the Natural Resources Conservation Service show that snowmelt already has come faster and earlier than usual, said Chris Pacheco, assistant snow survey superintendent.

"I'd say it's a few days to a couple of weeks early," Pacheco said. "At this rate, the snow is going to be gone by early to mid-June."

Statewide, flood danger will be localized to small, high-altitude drainages in northern Colorado, he predicted.

Snowfields in southern Colorado are almost melted out, essentially eliminating the flood potential, he said.

In Frisco, peak runoff on the Blue River and Ten Mile Creek is expected by the end of the week, said Assistant Town Manager Theresa Casey.

"We have sandbags available for pickup, and some people are getting them," Casey said. "But I don't believe anyone is filling them."

Mountain weather routinely defies forecasts, she said, so a few days of cool weather could close down the faucet on the snowmelt, easing the flood risk.

"It's not Memorial Day up here unless it snows," Casey said.

Near Steamboat Springs, the Elk and Yampa rivers are about to overflow their banks, flooding low agricultural land but not threatening homes, said Chuck Vale, emergency manager for Routt County.

"It's a normal runoff. It's right on target," he said. "We have our highest water here, typically, between the third week of May and the first week of June."

On the east side of the Continental Divide, Georgetown, which sits at the confluence of South Clear Creek and Clear Creek, has completed a dredging program and has sandbags ready, but not deployed, said Town Administrator Chuck Stearns.

"We're thinking the main risk may be later this month and into June," Stearns said.

In Idaho Springs, Mayor Dennis Lunbery said, "We're not expecting any major problems this year."

"On the eastern side of the divide, the concerns are somewhat less this year than on the western side," he said.

Early and rapid snowmelt across Colorado

Percent of average snowpack April 1 May 1 May 16

Statewide 94 65 52

Upper Colorado Basin 110 78 67

South Platte Basin 103 74 74

Gunnison Basin 94 56 32

Arkansas Basin 86 61 52

Upper Rio Grande Basin 64 40 29

Animas-Dolores-San Miguel -San Juan Basin 68 44 28