Click the link to read the article on The Aspen Daily News website (Austin Corona). Here’s an excerpt:
March 15, 2024
The storms (Feb. 26-27 and Mar. 2-3) were western Colorado’s first major dust event this year. Windstorms carrying dust from the arid Four Corners region commonly hit the Colorado Rockies in spring, depositing dark layers in the local snowpack. The dust often causes snow to melt faster, meaning there is less water available in local rivers and streams by late summer and fall. Rafting companies and recreators have less time to play, and some farmers and ranchers must stop irrigating earlier. Snow researchers say the combined event was relatively large and may have hit the Roaring Fork watershed harder than other areas. The dust has been visible on Aspen ski mountains, including at the bottom of this year’s FIS Alpine World Cup course on Ajax…
Jeff Derry — executive director of the Silverton-based Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies — said the event was widespread, depositing dust in an area spanning from the San Juan Mountains near Telluride to Rabbit Ears Pass near Steamboat Springs. Andrew Temple, a field assistant at CSAS, said McClure Pass south of Carbondale received more dust than any other site he visited for snow observation this week, including Park Cone east of Crested Butte and Spring Creek Pass south of Lake City…
In April, a dust storm arrived just as local snowpack was hitting its peak, meaning it remained high in the snow layers and affected almost the entire runoff process. Even with last year’s wet, cloudy spring conditions, Deems estimates the dust cut a month off the spring runoff season.
