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COLORADO WATER SUPPLY OUTLOOK REPORT MAY 1, 2005 Summary -. As has been the case for most of the winter season, snowpacks in the northern basins remain below average, while well above average snowpack conditions continue to be the norm in the southern basins. Overall, statewide snowpack totals are near, if just slightly below, average. Reflective of the snowpack conditions, runoff is expected to favor the basins in the southern portion of the state, while the northern basins should expect below average spring and summer streamflows. Reservoir storage remains below average in all the Colorado basins. With the snow accumulation season essentially over for this year, the northern basins could benefit from better than normal precipitation during the late spring and summer to help reduce the impacts of their below average snowpacks. Snowpack As in previous months, Colorado's statewide snowpack percent of average value continues to be one of the highest in the last several years. May 1 snow surveys show the statewide totals to be slightly below normal at 99% of average and 46% above those measured a year ago at this time. Despite a spring snowstorm early in the month whose effects were felt along the Front Range and in the eastern plains of the state, April was essentially turning out to be a warm, dry month in the higher elevations and by mid-month melting had begun in all the basins throughout the state. Then in the last week of the month, things turned around and the entire state saw improvement in their snowpack conditions. Based on SNOTEL data, the South Platte actually saw a second peak in snow water content in April that surpassed the one posted earlier in the month. The basins in the southern portion of the state continued to show the highest snowpack percentages. At 139% of average, the Upper Rio Grande Basin has the highest figure once again this month. Not. far behind, snowpack in the combined San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan basin measure in at 135% of average. The Gunnison River Basin and the Arkansas River Basin also reported above average snowpacks at 125% of average and 107% of average, respectively. The northern basins once again posted the lowest snowpack totals in the state. The South Platte continues to have the lowest snowpack percent of average at only 77% with the Yampa, White "and North Platte River Basin only slightly ahead with 78% of average. In terms of percent of average, May I saw a decline in all the basins from the previous month. The largest change was reported in the Yampa, White _and North Platte River basins (-12%) while the Upper Rio Grande exhibited the smallest reduction (-1%). May I snowpacks this year were higher in all the basins when compared to measurements a year ago.