WATFSummaryApril2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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All river basins have reached their snowpack peaks for the year. Colorado is having an early snow meltout this year similar to that of 2002. In the past, Colorado has had a long-tenn trend of early runoffs that posed a threat for flooding and higher demands in some areas of the State. Predicted wanner temperatures from May 8 - May 18 and forecasted stonn events could trigger flash flooding in June through July, particularly in the Ft. Collins area and Denver's Front Range. Water Availabilitv Task Force (W ATF) Co-Chairs Jack Byers, Deputy State Engineer, Division of Water Resources (DWR), and Veva McCaig, Section Chief for the CWCB's Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning, commenced the meeting. Report from the Governor's Office A representative from the Governor's Office was not in attendance. Instead, Frank McNulty, from the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Executive Director's Office, made some brief comments. The Governor continues to be interested in regular reports from the W A TF. Water supply infonnation and flood condition updates need to be relayed to the Governor's office in a timely manner. The Governor signed an executive order on 4/19/06 allocating $2 million to the State Forest Service for fighting wildfires this season. Report from the State Climatologist Roger Pielke, State Climatologist, announced he will retire July 1, 2006 and Nolan Doesken will replace him as the State Climatologist. Temperatures and precipitation for the month of March were about average as was the statewide precipitation. Last month was the 48th wettest March for Colorado. March had spotty precipitation throughout the State. The San Juan Mountains, in the southwest, received average to above average moisture, but the southeast area of the State continues to have below average precipitation. There is a lot of variability throughout the State for this water year. Every year some portion of Colorado is in a drought. Currently 13% of the state is experiencing drought conditions--mainly the southeast and southwest portions of the State. 2002 was a serious short-tenn drought. Persistent dry conditions could move Colorado back to where we were in 2002. However, even though the southeast area of the state currently has the driest conditions, Colorado is not having as serious drought conditions as the neighboring states. Report from Natural Resources Conservation Service Mike Gillespie, from Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), reported that overall snowpack has declined statewide. Snowpack conditions remain above average in the northern half of the state and far below average in the southern part of the State. However in the South, snowpack improved with the March 2006 snowstonns, in some places doubling. NRCS data indicates that statewide the April 1 snowpack was 94% of average and as of April 19, the snowpack level had declined to 86% of average due to snowmelt. Early meltout in most basins is occurring by as much as two to three weeks. The central mountains still have above average snowpack, but it is dropping quickly. All basins have reached their snowpack peak at this time and have begun to decline as melting begins. The Yampa/White and North Platte Basins had the highest snowpack peaks while the Rio Grande and San Juan/Dolores Basins had the lowest. Basin snow peak information is as follows: Arkansas Basin snowpack peak was below average. Colorado basin had an above average snowpack peak.