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<br />YAMPAlWHITE BASIN <br /> <br />Basinwide Conditions Assessment <br />The SWSI value of -0,2 indicates that for May the <br />basin water supplies were near normal. The Natural <br />Resources Conservation Service reports that June 1 <br />snowpack is 59% of normal. Flow at the gaging station <br />Yampa River at Steamboat was estimated at 1,505 cfs, as <br />compared to the long-term average of 1,600 cfs, <br />Precipitation for May was approximately 95% of <br />average for the basin. Year-to-date precipitation for the <br />water year is about 88% of average, The basin-wide <br />snowpack for the YampalWhite River drainage was 49% of <br />average at the end of May, For the Laramie/North Platte <br />drainage the snow pack at the end of the month was 57 % of <br />average, The first half of the month was the cool and wet; <br />this resulted in a steady snowmelt that kept stream flows <br />near seasonal norms, In the second half of the month, <br />temperatures rose significantly and snowmelt increased <br />dramatically, Several gaging stations on the Yampa River <br />recorded record daily mean flows in the May 20 to 24 <br />timeframe, In the last week of the month cool, wet weather <br />returned to the basin, <br />Stream flows increased dramatically in mid-month <br />due to the rapid snowmelt. The flows remained above <br />average for the remainder of the month supplemented by the <br />late month precipitation, Reservoirs are generally full, with <br />only a few irrigation reservoirs on the Bear River in the upper <br />Yampa drainage still below capacity, <br /> <br />Outlook <br />Cool, wet weather moved into the area in late May <br />and continued into the early part of June, The cool weather <br />has slowed the melting of the remaining snowpack, and the <br />precipitation has kept irrigation demands below normal. Soil <br />moisture content is high and the irrigation season is looking <br />very promising. <br /> <br />Administrative/Manaqement Concerns <br />Piceance Creek, a tributary to the White River, was <br />taken off administrative call in May, High flows, which have <br />not been seen in the last seven years, have allowed all of <br />the ditches on the drainage to divert as much water as <br />desired, While this will probably not last for an extended <br />period of time, this is the first time in many years that some <br />users have received any water at all in some of their ditches. <br /> <br />Public Use Impacts <br />Flows in the rivers and streams are at very high <br />levels, with swift currents, Extreme caution should be <br />exercised when recreating on or near the watercourses. <br />Most high elevation reservoirs are now open, <br /> <br />Jun-05 <br /> <br />~~ <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br /> <br />w <br />3 <br />< <br />> 0 <br />x <br />w <br />o <br />z <br />-" <br />> <br />" <br />o <br />< <br /> <br />< <br /> <br />< ' <br />____.IiInOO.lnOJJin.01..1ot'1-O'.!.W>03JorH.l4.in-ffi <br />-,- <br /> <br />YANPA RIVER AT STEMe:::AT, FlON BY M.TER YEAR <br /> <br />70l,roJ <br /> <br />-- ,- -- .,- -. ,- --.- .., <br /> , <br /> /' ~ i <br /> I <br /> / i <br /> / <br /> / / I <br /> 1// , <br /> --"" ,/ , <br /> <br />WJ.roJ <br /> <br />" <br />~500,COJ <br />" <br />~ <br />,,- <br />g400,COO <br />~ <br />~300,COJ <br />~ <br />~ <br />~2OO,COJ <br />~ <br />U <br />100,OXl <br /> <br />o <br />Q:i.1\bv D3c Ja1 FebMa1::hp.piIMay..llnl..kJyAlg~ <br /> <br />-e-V\.ET(1934) <br /> <br />__CRY (1977) <br /> <br />~AVG <br /> <br />*-2005 <br /> <br />8 <br />