From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
However, there are two very different years to track for comparison so far: Snowpack is about the same as in 2002, when the project yield was only 13,200 acre-feet. The region was in a drought that worsened to historic proportions as the year went on. In 2010, when February levels were similar to this year, the final yield was 55,400 acre-feet — roughly average since diversions began in the mid-1970s. Heavier snowfall brought up the yield in March and April…
Statewide, conditions remain drier than usual. In the Colorado River basin, where Fry-Ark water originates, snowpack is at 71 percent [ed. 70% as of last Friday] of average — some sites are only at 50 percent of average. In the Arkansas River basin, snowpack is at 88 [ed. 85% as of last Friday] percent of average.
From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):
Low season flows into Lake Powell have been near normal in recent weeks, with the Colorado River delivering about 356,000 acre feet (99 percent of average) during January, leaving the reservoir about 63 feet below full pool…
For now, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s water supply forecast for April through July is predicting an inflow of about 5 million acre feet, which is about 71 percent of average — but that outlook comes with a caveat: “At this time of year however, there is a high level of uncertainty in hydrologic forecasts and the annual release volume from Glen Canyon Dam in WY2012 will ultimately be based on the actual inflows that occur during 2012 rather than this Water Supply forecast,” the USBR wrote in the monthly update.
Looking ahead month by month, the forecasted unregulated inflow to Lake Powell is projected at 390,000 acre feet in February (99 percent of average), 550,000 AF in March (83 percent of average) and 800,000 AF in April (78 percent of average), based on a comparison with the 1981-2010 period.
The best-guess forecast for the 2012 water year is for a total of about 8.5 million AF (78 percent of average), but the forecasters tried to cover all the possible weather bases by saying the total could be as low as 5.5 million AF (51 percent of average) to as high as 12.65 million AF (117 percent of average) “depending on the range of precipitation patterns that could occur over the next several months.”