From The Durango Herald (Dale Rodebaugh):
In the Animas, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel basins, the snowpack on March 1 stood at 85 percent of the 30-year median. The figure is 103 percent of last year’s level.
Only the Rio Grande Basin immediately to the east is worse off. There, the March 1 snowpack was 79 percent of the 30-year median.
The other six basins were well above the median, ranging from 109 percent in the Arkansas Basin to 151 percent of the median in the South Platte Basin. The South Platte snowpack this year was 232 percent of last year’s level.
Statewide, the snowpack was 115 percent of the median March 1 and 161 percent of the March 1, 2013, level.
State reservoirs held 89 percent of their average capacity March 1, up from 67 percent of average in 2013.
Reservoirs in the Animas, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel basins held 71 percent of average March 1. A year earlier, the reservoirs were at 66 percent of average.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
Northern Colorado has seen snowpack totals nearly double last year’s mark for the start of March, as continued snowfall has led to an above-average year of mountain snowpack. Snow levels in the Cache la Poudre Basin are at 147 percent of their median historical level for March 7, NRCS reports.
The snowpack at Cameron Pass, a popular backcountry snow sports destination in the Poudre Canyon, hit 133 percent of its median March 7 mark.
It’s good news for skiers, kayakers and river rafting companies, though much could change before summer. March and April are traditionally Northern Colorado’s snowiest months. Already, Colorado Department of Transportation officials say they’re keeping an eye on the potential for spring runoff to damage roads battered by last September’s flood, while also causing new flooding.
Colorado’s water year, which begins in October, is also largely dependent on how long the mountain snowpack stays in the mountains. An early warming trend could not only stoke flood concerns, but also could lead to worries of summer wildfires and restored drought conditions that left much of the state in 2013.