From the Longmont Times Call (Magdalena Wegrzyn):
This time of year, [St. Vrain River] streamflows are typically at about 400 cubic feet per second, [Ken Huson, the city’s water resources administrator] said. During Memorial Day weekend, they peaked at about 530 cubic feet per second. “The river streamflow this time of year responds pretty directly to the temperature,” he said. “And last week, at the end of the week — Thursday and Friday— we had some warm weather.” And with temperatures expected to be in the 90s at the end of this week, he said is it likely the streamflow will increase again this weekend and into early next week…
Button Rock Dam is holding a full Ralph Price Reservoir in the mountains above Lyons. Huson said the reservoir doesn’t normally fill until the beginning of July. This year, it filled in May, partly because of the longer snow season this year. Longmont gets about two-thirds of its annual water supply from the St. Vrain, which flows into the South Platte River Basin. The water comes from snow runoff from Rocky Mountain National Park’s Indian Peaks Wilderness and Wild Basin areas.
On average, the South Platte River Basin reaches its peak snowpack accumulation on April 23, according to data gathered by the Colorado Natural Resources Conservation Service. This year, that didn’t happen until the middle of May…
“We actually were accumulating snow for three weeks longer than we normally do,” said Chris Pacheco, assistant snow survey supervisor for the Lakewood-based NRCS state office.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):
The [Poudre] river crested at around 2,500 cubic feet per second and almost 7 feet in height Saturday, the day after Fort Collins broke a heat record of 91 degrees on May 28 and mountain temperatures remained well above freezing all day, according to U.S. Geological Survey river data and the Colorado Climate Center at CSU…
Varra said the Poudre River stream flow this spring has been higher than normal because the Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company did not divert water from the river via the Poudre Valley Canal because its reservoir was full last month.
Higher temperatures in recent weeks melted the snowpack at a higher rate than last year, he said.
On Wednesday, the snowpack was 73 percent of normal in the South Platte River Basin, which includes the Poudre River, down from 110 percent May 25, according to U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service data.That comes at the end of one of the snowiest seasons – September through May – on record in Larimer County. Fort Collins received 88.7 inches of snow during the snow season at Colorado State University, according to the university’s monthly weather summary issued Wednesday. Last month was the 12th snowiest May on record for Fort Collins, with the 4.1 inches of snowfall May 12 breaking the 1912 record of 1.5 inches for that date.
From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (Kevin Keller):
The Colorado River below Glenwood Springs is running near 11,900 cubic feet per second, according to the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) website. The Roaring Fork River at Glenwood Springs is running higher than its average for June 2 — at about 4,400 cubic feet per second, or about 900 cubic feet per second higher than it’s average. Byron Lawrence, Hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said even though the river is a little high right now, things are about normal after a little less than average snowfall. “We’re not doing too bad,” he said. “The runoff and expected peak is just about what we usually see.”[…]
Lawrence said that the cold spring helped average out the precipitation for the Western Slope, after the snowfall was about 5 percent below average. “The cold spring helped improve conditions,” he said. “It reduced snowmelt early so that in late April and in May we had a fairly decent snowpack.” The average peak date for the Colorado River is June 8, according to the USGS’ website. The forecasted peak this year is right about average, around June 9, Lawrence said. Lawrence added that after the peak, they expect for river levels to be right around average for the rest of the summer season.
From the Aspen Daily News:
…the snowpack in the Roaring Fork River basin [is at] 67 percent of average…And the snowpack is 72 percent of last year’s at this time, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s snow survey office in Lakewood.
The Colorado River basin as a whole has 57 percent of its average snowpack, but 185 percent of last year’s snowpack as of June 1, according to an NRCS press release. That’s a slip from last month when it was 71 percent of average for that time of year, and 76 percent of average on April 1. Things look better at some sites within the Roaring Fork basin. On Independence Pass, for example, the snowpack is 80 percent of last year’s and 78 percent of average. McClure Pass’ snowpack is 90 percent of last year’s, but only 55 percent of average. And on Schofield Pass above Marble, the snowpack is 70 percent of last year and 77 percent of average.
The local snowpack is faring better than in the state as a whole, where snowpack totals have decreased to only 53 percent of average by June 1, according to NRCS. Southern Colorado saw the biggest declines in snowpack percentages in May, despite what looked to be shaping up as an excellent runoff season in midwinter. But with little to no precipitation since early April, it’s a below average runoff season in the Animas, Dolores and San Miguel rivers. Cooler weather and wetter conditions characterized the northern mountains in the late spring, and accumulations continued until mid-May. Maximum snowpack accumulation was nearly three weeks later than normal in some northern basins, and improved the runoff outlook from where it was in midwinter.
From The Greeley Tribune (Bill Jackson):
Statewide snowpack totals decreased to only 53 percent of average on June 1, yet remain well above last year’s readings for June 1. The good news: all that melting snow has pushed many of the state’s reservoirs to well above average…Water coming down the Poudre River has flooded parts of the Poudre Trail between Greeley and Windsor, but no major flooding problems have been reported.