From the Steamboat Pilot & Today (Zach Fridell):
[Mike Gillespie, the snow supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service] reported about the state of Colorado snowpack throughout the past year at the Colorado Water Congress’ summer conference, held at the Steamboat Sheraton Re sort from Wednesday to noon today. “People start getting a little antsy” when early season snow is below normal levels, he said. “Then, lo and behold, the following month (December) or so we saw huge increases in the snowpack. We accumulated about a quarter of our normal average in the 30 days after that time.” That shot the snowpack from near the minimum to above the 30-year average for several months.
Statewide, snowpack was 17 percent above the 30-year average last year. For the Yampa and White River Basin, April 13 was the peak date, at 14 percent above the 30-year average. That’s one day later than the average high point in other years, indicating the snow was sticking slightly longer.