Southeastern Coloraodo Water Conservancy District 2002 Annual Report

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W ;Summer of '02 hottest since ' 30s; drought afflicts nearly half of U.S. By RANDOLPH 1 ?. SCHMID 77r A""" mitre.,., j we are wllTz- simmeping states Tempeniure and rainfall for summer 2002 — June through A.q.st — ..king each of the a8 6guous states accowing tons own weather over 108 years at ewrdkeepng. For rainfall a ranking of 1 means detest year on record 108 is wettest year. For temperature t means .ended year on record far the state and 108 is hottest year. Stan, rein Tamp StNa a4M Tamp Ala. 49 54 Nab, 12 106 Ariz. 3 101 Her. 1 107 WASHINGTON — It isn't Ara_ 48 95 N.N. 15 84 the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Calif. 4 89 N.J. 27 107 but serious drought is afflicting Cola. 5 105 'N.M. 24 106 nearly 'half the country after Conn, 44 96 N.Y. 35 96 _ the hottest Snum -sinc, li,vO Del. 21 102 N.C. 23 94 It his wilted Crops and Fla. 101 45 N.D. 102 100 hovns, parched pastumlund and Ga. 25 66 - Ohio 8 105 feud ... ..hurries to h,pos. 1 water r•Siriction,. Idaho 26 88 Okla. 67 71 I Moderate to extreme lit 58 95 Ore. 21 95 drought affected more than 45 Ind_ 24 97 Pa. 22 91 percent of the country during Iowa 87 97 R.I. 53 102 i each of the past three months. Kan. 31 95 S.C. 20 80 after the lutionai weather Service fo.c:ut dry conditions continuing through the winter for much of the country- Only the South is expecred to be wetter than normal. Heavy rainfall eased drought but led m ee ... c flooding in south - cmand ceatmi "fesaa in erh• July_ •rth damage v'shm.... us h has 51 billion. Simng d ndervtd nos also brought widcsinnd R,xling to -c'em, M1hnncsol and 1 nth Dakota and resided a hand.dti of nullimis of dollars in crop toss.. in June. j "file 12 mm�ths that ended wirtt August x ra 11e Jriest oa record [for North dCarolina, Virginia. Col - rand , Utah. At rmd Nevada. They nom the ?c •ontLdeiest 12 months in South Carolina, Gero6 Msryland, Delaware and iV_vaming- 13ut when Grandpa .ruff, and 'ay, the urrerit dryness 15 nothing compared to the Dust Bowl dava of the 1930, Depmasion decade, he'. right. The most willcspread drought i record. started being kept - iBg `v•' ago x'as .fended in July 193.1, wirer 30 percem oC the Gnilcd Stores was in maicnrtc to .xheme. heught. Climate taperts al the data Gen - wr noted Otter more revere i drought, have - -erred in the { the Natrnnal Clunatic Data Ky- 15 97 S.D_ 42 104 Past. i II Center reported Friday. tae 68 60 Tenn, 20 97 Tree ring, and other historical Nati vovide- the sununer — ' June August Maine 12 a6 Texas 98 57 data hhdil ;tIC donuhlc red}• a' -. , through — t1,d. 21 102 Utah 2 104 a that ml III. 1934 many the third boats[ on .cord, 1'ol- ' Mass, 47 100 Vt. 62 87 Ii ""' during the• past tae. lowing only 1936 and 1934, the agency said Mich. 68 99 V., 18 101 •enmries. j The toll of drought and heat Minn. 108 94 Wash. 26 87 prolonged severe droughts 11 wort t be known for sonic time, Miss. 61 40 W.V.. 23 87 x' 1 1. in 1731 -3Q I1 i6 -57 anti but Conrad Lawenbachcr, head Mo. 35 95 Ws. 98 97 1863 -64. Seven consccuticc sum- i j of ff,, National Oceanic and Mont. 45 71 Wyo. 12 1 mere. wilt persistent .evert severe dr +nitltt,xeurmd Jara Alm- phen Wmmisu.mon. , g life ` estimated nted Ih n 3s each as $2.7 [818.24, the client u" trillion the emu° ns - an area roughly the sad, of r permit. It "The j ea sensitive to weather e New had been added, se r ty of the 1930, drought emWeatns. conditi nt,db,frc consumed the 'Chat's was likely Sur - paused by the drought in the 1570' Weather ay parents from have kept moisture away from tic North- r. - The' do the age a. double the aecr:hgc annual damage by and the west - S, over such east and Western states and wildfires. with casts estimated U °1 U.5. and wnhum Mesico, j rn F much of the Smith. while pans at $L5 billion so far and Inge which lasted rvtrel decades in j t of Ihc upper Midwest, Percival- fires still homing in the West Pans of the southwest m U.S. ' I r tarty Minnesota and the Dako- • in las Vegas, wafer vast- This summer was marked by j tas, received above normal ca can 1. tined and at to numerous extreme wester, events ; rainfall. ennservation ins, through _ t the world, Including j Among effects: *The city of Golden is °Pere (h 100 le th cos i 1111, The Agriculture Depart- t� faced with buying water brain I'uroP !- he's } 'tall caused ; meat has opened up conserve- Cdnrs Brewing Co_ after lea devastat rag tlooda in the c ech ? [ion lands across the•. country ing a court fight over rights to Republic, GcnnI .Austria. Slo- ! for hay harvesting or gracing a creek. aka,, Russia and Romania. I to assist dronghf- plagued • 1. New Gnglmtd, it,) -a Mormon rains led to hundreds farmers. thretcns the cranberry crop of Jcmhs in Bangladesh and nordf- ' • By the end of August, il because the bogs where the a tern Ind', std he m nLdl i million acres of frosty forest - ban s grow can't be flooded tor(hina bright sev, fl ",btu p t oral i ' �_ - - -- the Climatic Data Center. in --— Asheville, N.C„ repented that the average Iempcmture far rho 48 contiguous states Ibis summer was 73.9 degrees Fahmnheit. Thai s 1.8 degrees warmer than normal and the third hottest on record. Peg.4 Drought FORT COLLINS —The annual Colorado Agricultural Outlook Forum on Feb, 20, 2003, will focus on Colorado's draught and low commodity prices in today's agri- cultural markets. The event, called "Weathering Tough Times Togeth- er," takes place at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver. The fomnl is sponsored by Col- orado State University Cooperative Fxtension, Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Agri- cultural and Rural Leadership pro- gram graduates, *'This year's drought has been one of many factors affecting CoJ- omrto's farmers and mnchers," said Don Ament, Colorado commission- er of agriculture. "rte 2003 fomm is an opportunity for us to team about more ways to get through these tough times. Working togeth- er, I'm convinced that we can posi- 110.1 agriculture for a promising Comae." 1') A, I) topi I. Jul (Colorado) Tribrni.- namo<raYForm and c of Forum Colorado is in its fourth year of drought and the environmental and economic effects am severe. Every county in Colorado was in a drought disaster in 2002. The economic loss from winter wheat is estimated at $120 million with the harvest size being the smallest since 1968. Reservoirs in the state arc less that half full and an estimated 20 per- cent to 50 percent of farmers and numbers, will be lost front the indus- try, according to experts. Colorado Stale President Albert C. Yates rand Attorney General of Colorado Ken Salazar will be among the many educational, bmii ness and political lead— ",.tribut- ing to the fomm, Others speakers include Nolan Doesken, Colorado State Climate Center research mso- .dic; Dave Little, Denver Water Resource Planning manager: Eric Wilkinson. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District general manager; and Reeves Browne Club 20 president. The forum will run from 8:15 a,m- to 4:15 p.m, and will include breakout sessions Rom 1:70 pm. to 4 :15 p.m. Breakout sessions will cover irrigation strategies, dry crop. land and mngeiand strategies, water sharing strategies, agriculture and wildlife stmtegies, managing risk, stress and conflict and a legisfative update on water issues. Registration is $90 before Feb. 7 and 5100 (hereafter. Full- refund cancellations are accepted in writ- ing until Feb. 1. Registration is available the mlnming of the event from 7:30 am. to 8:1 S a.m. For more information or to reg- ister, ealt (800) 886 -7683 or visit the humans Web site at we"col- oradoigfomm.com. A special room rate at the Renaissance Hotel is available to pe'nple who mention de forun and make room reservations by Feb. 12 at(8W) 468 -3571. Pueblo's drought lingers 'File citv's moisture levels have nicasured below average 12 of the past 14 months It JAMh3.,MOS Thi, xk'. ,,J"t s h w did u +• !ally ethm_ imlh ihetleltl iin,l ohm re !hi, coon. Inn it "as 'hi directie:i. -rhea Nali,wd W -111cr Service ,,flue at Pucbl. M-1—iA Airpn tt'ix»ied! '.t inChcs of soon' 4i\ +m f I y ! t t 11 I i f l i l Is h or r Ii1 11. 1h l.. I , r� I Dac• t,ri .,a wtat n� to Mik, N W, ; Ircdlroloi red n!cn:u..uh!gica! to -to- !i a wc t the ,bh ii,axy. There's snip plenty of time for RrcMo to have a agnn ;d De[cm- her, at Icaq nxnsnre-wisc. Po.aater Dan -c Mc;re said the of the• rural! m,mv com:tin _ u!n. mere su „dv. ''fhmm fay be oah.r slum ti ha -c l rTU.sdvv !!t� :<f ,l'ednrs- da,11ebut W, : , .a �.nande :' he It,, snowfall oudo +k for Ihc rat n! the nail 1, h., anon oraI lauds, Mcoc said. Al-.1”, xvuld be just x- ondcr- lid for snuda axtam Cak!redo, w :va,i compared u, hove "odd "no baye!i t fallen for Ihc I;ut ym;No-rae wa, Iho hucst nuauh post bmi!nv ai, , r aishare ,.... The gather .rd ;; q mo, th . a,a. goi..Iiioa A 1t7 Drought worst in 277 years Ci z_C.k 6 �t a` Tree rings tell long h�tis ry ry times The Assoclitillihd Press FORT COLLINS — One scien- tist's study of tree rings sug- gests the northern Front Range is having its driest year since 1725. With meteorological data going back about 100 years, government and water offi- cials have been unable to say how long it's been since things were this dry. This year's drought has been called the worst in a century. Lee Rozaklis, an engineer with Hydrosphere Resource Consultants of Boulder, was able to extend the history of the Boulder Creek basin to 1705 by studying trees. "It's fair to say this is not merely a 100 -year drought. There hasn't been a year like this" in 277 years, Rozaklis said. "Boulder Creek is fairly representative of most of the northern Front Range and most of the tributaries into the Colorado -Big Thompson (system) as well." Trees typically grow little in dry years, leaving differ- ent degrees of thin ringlets. Studying tree rings, called dendrochronology, can yield a wealth of historical data, wa _ore an ' -mc aw normal, making it the 12th out the past 14 months to be below averry age•. So far, the year 2002 has brought just 3.78 inches of precip- uni on, which Is 8-3 inch., below -mend. Nosko said. The drought actually started September 2001, which was At inches bciow average in precipitmion. The subsequent months were hardly beam *October 2001- 0.5 inches below average • November 200 i, average • D,.aiber 2001, 01 inches below average •January 2002, 0.10 inches above average i febmary 1_002. 0-11) mches 1,601, average 0 M ' March 002. 0,93 inches Wow average M April 2002, L09 inches below average • May 2002, 1.27 inches below average • June 2002. 0.9 inches below avenge • July 2W2, L2 inches below average • Autos, 2002, 1.97 inches below average Ill 0er 10M.0.42 inches below average • October 2002, 0.03 inches above avemge 0 November 2002. 0S6 inches helow average So i white Christmas would be welcome, at least by these wish- ing to see the snmvpack get healthy for next spring's mnoff. 01 course. the kids ,]to are required to shovel Iicir folks' driveways nag not 6e a, pie std_ We'll see. shedding light on events ranging from runoff and spring snowpack to precipita- tion and climate changes. Rozaklis pinpointed 1725 as the driest year by compar- ing the ringlet patterns from various trees and matching those results against the available historical record. Rozaklis' study yielded other cautionary findings, He said there's no guarantee the current drought will run its course in a few years. His. Boulder Creek analysis found a drought that stretched 15 years during the 1970s and 1880s. "What tree rings suggest is there were droughts signif- icantly worse than what wave seen in modern histo- ry," Rozaklis said. Fort Collins has received 73 inches of precipitation so far in 2002, 5.13 inches less than average for this time of year. Other Colorado cities, in- cluding Colorado Springs, saw minimal rainfall this year and imposed water -use . restrictions throughout the summer to conserve supplies that threatened to dry up. 27