Click the link to read the article on The Aspen Times website (Ali Longwell):
Colorado’s rivers and streams are expected to flow at only a quarter of normal levels during June and July, following what the Natural Resources Conservation Service referred to as an “unusual volatile winter” in its June water supply outlook. On the Western Slope, the outlook is even more grim, with the Colorado River headwaters basin expected to see streamflows 21% of normal and the Yampa-White-Little Snake basin 19% of normal during these two months. This year, Colorado’s snowpack accumulation was the lowest on record, affirmed Nagam Bell, a hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the state, at the June 16 Colorado Water Conservation Board’s water conditions monitoring meeting. In March, a heat wave spurred an early meltoff of the snowpack, causing streamflows to rise ahead of schedule. Bell reported that March streamflow was 140% of normal, “typically because we don’t have runoff that early.” While this depleted nearly half of the snowpack, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that cooler conditions and late-season snowfall [helped]…In mid-May, Colorado’s streams saw a second rise and peak that’s not uncommon to see that time of year, Bell said. The May peak, however, is normally the first — not the last — of the season…
Statewide, observed streamflows from March through May were 50% of normal, Bell reported. April and May alone saw streamflows at 41% of normal due to the March runoff skewing the agency’s seasonal comparison. Meltoff this year was 36 days ahead of schedule, Bell said. By June 1, owing to this early and accelerated melt, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that 91% of its SNOTEL stations were fully melted out — compared to the normal 56% for that date. Within the Colorado River headwaters, only 3% of normal snowpack for this date remained. The Yampa, White and Little Snake basin was the highest in the state, sitting at 30% of normal on June 1…Statewide snowpack was 100% melted by June 10.