WATFSummaryMay2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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For May 1, Mr. Gillespie said there has been a little decline with the snowpack dropping to 99% of average, but it is still well above last year and above average snowpack across the south, He mentioned the snowpack has declined since Apri11 to May, but we would have to go back to 1998 to get a better year then this year. Mr. Gillespie also stated it has been seven years since we have had a year as wet as this year so maybe we are on the way back out of the drought. Mr. Gillespie commented that the water equivalent statewide was good in October, November and December were dry, and January was the best month, We wound up to 108% of snow peak by May 1. The Gunnison Basin is at 150% of average which is three times more than last year, He said overall this basin is doing well, the trend increased in early April, then went back down, then accumulated more at the end of April. The Colorado Basin is close to average at 104% of average, January was the best month for this basin, The South Platte is at 101 % of average and ended at 87% of peak, This is more then two times of last year's snow peak, and the South Platte has had the best recovery than any basin for April but is still below average, The Laramie basin is similar to the South Platte with 90% of average, The trend continued to decline and has finished at 82% of peak, The Yampa/White Basin has not had a very good year, but they are currently at 84% of average and melting out pretty quick. October was the best month ending at 87% of maximum, The Arkansas basin saw a big improvement, but the snow has begun to melt out; however, there is good snowmelt control with the recent cooler temperatures, They have ended up at 128% of average snow peak. The Rio Grande still has a lot of snow, The latest measurement shows 173% of average and 246% of last year. This year there has been a great improvement with January being a great month, The San Miguel Basin had 10 inches of water equivalent in January, Mr. Gillespie said the Colorado statewide precipitation for May 1 is slightly above average for the water year, The precipitation is well over half of the season's accumulation now, and much better than we were here the same day in 2002, Last year we had a dry March and recovered in April. Mr. Gillespie reported that our Reservoir Storage for May 1 is at 89% of average and 106% of last year, He said all reservoirs recovered well except the Arkansas Basin and it is now in a deficit mode; the Colorado Basin is at 82% of average and is going back down and may not improve; the Gunnison recovered and is back down now; the South Platte has had a good recovery, and, overall we are at about a 400,000-acre feet deficit.