WATFSummaryFeb2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Colorado Basin The SWSI values (-1.8) indicate that January basin water supplies were below normal, although the SWSI may be overstating the actual conditions in this Basin. February 1, 2003 snowpack levels were 82% of average. Storage in Green Mountain, Ruedi, and Williams Fork reservoirs totaled 43% of average at the end of January. YamDalWhite Basin The SWSI values (-2.1) indicate that the January basin water supplies were below average, although the SWSI may be overstating the actual conditions in this Basin. February 1, 2003 snowpack levels were 80% of average. At the end of January the snow pack was 76% of average for the North Platte River Basin; 80% of average for the Yampa River Basin; 72% of average for the White River Basin; and, 76% of average for the Little Snake River. All were down considerably from the previous month, except for the Little Snake, which was about the same. San JuanlDolores Basin The SWSI values (-2.3) indicate that January water basin supplies were below normal. February 1, 2003 snowpack levels were 63% of normal. Storage in McPhee, Vallecito, and Lemon reservoirs totaled 57% of normal. Roger Pielke. State Climatologist Mr. Pielke explained that the drought in the United States is still one ofthe major droughts worldwide and compared the U.S. drought to the droughts in Australia and South Mrica. Colorado is the eighth driest state for precipitation. Statewide we are still in a drought. He said the message is clear, with only a few exceptions, by the representation of climate stations in different water divisions showing our precipitation levels are on the low side of average. January temperatures were above average, and January also was particularly bad for much of the state with below average precipitation. During the water year (October 2002 to January 2003), generally we were below average statewide with few exceptions. We are in a four-year, multi year drought condition. Bottom line is we need to take a precarious position in terms of water supply. The short- term precipitation could eliminate some problems but not for municipalities and irrigation. Fanners will still have dry soil problems. We will not have the same amount of runoff because ofthe very dry soils and greater demand for vegetation. Mr. Pielke said the prudent thing is for us to plan for continued drought. This year is not as bad as last year, but we started with worse conditions. Bob Glancv. National Weather Service. Short Term Weather Forecast Mr. Glancy said that he was cautiously optimistic about expected precipitation for March. He said that the storm systems were gaining more energy and that would continue through March. Today (February 19,2003) it is snowing in S.E. Colorado, but the next big storm will miss us to the south. He expects the mountains to continue to pick up light snow throughout the weekend. Mr. Glancy felt that snow conditions on March 1, 2003 might look better than they did on February 1 st, due to more expected storms moving into the area, but that we still had a long way to go to recover.