From the Vail Daily (Lauren Glendenning):
Vail Mountain snowpack is at 57 percent of last year’s level, and 69 percent of average levels. Beaver Creek’s snowpack is at 45 percent of last year’s level, and 72 percent of average levels…
“I think it’s kind of time to get concerned about this low of a snowpack for this time of year,” said Mike Gillespie, the snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It’s considerably below average.”[…]
The Eagle River Water and Sanitation District analysts aren’t as concerned with snow depths as they are with snow water equivalents, or the amount of moisture found in snow. The District measures levels at each of the snow survey stations that directly affect local water supplies, with Vail Mountain’s site as one of them. The survey station on Vail Mountain just hit the 2002 drought level, meaning levels have been less than they were in 2002 until now, where they’re about even. The District compares levels to 2002 because that was a really dry year. A graph showing both 2002 and current levels proves there’s something to be concerned about.
Gillespie thinks this year is starting to look like 2002, but there’s still some room for hope. “The wild card is still for what El Nino could bring to the state in the late spring,” Gillespie said.
More coverage from NBC11News.com (James Hopkins):
The majority of the storms this winter have favored the south west mountain ranges leaving the rest of the state wanting. “The central mountains are around 80% of snow pack and the northern mountains tend to be 70–75 percent of normal,” says Brian Lawrence of the National Weather Service. Weather patterns, like the ones we are seeing this winter, are typical of an El Nino pattern. The sub–tropical jet, which normally tracks right through Colorado, pushes to the south. “Bringing quite a bit of precipitation to the southern mountains, while the northern mountains miss out on a lot of the action,” says Lawrence.
This pattern, not only benefits the Grand Valley when it comes to skiing in the winter , but also this coming spring. “So far we’re looking pretty good, kinda running along average, we’re at about 94%,” says Bret Guillory. Guillory is the Grand Junction Utility Engineer and his job is to keep a close eye on the city’s water supply. While the rest of the state is relatively dry, it’s a different story on the western slope. “The city of Grand Junction’s water shed is very healthy,” says Guillory.