GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — March came in like a lamb and could very well go out like one and that does not bode well for spring runoff this year. As the historically snowiest month of the year, it has proved a decided bust.

Warm temperatures and frost-free nights in the last week have made for a quickly melting snowpack. Snow runoff accounts for most of the state's surface water supply.

"We're drying out awfully fast," said Dennis Davidson, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Glenwood Springs.

Early snowmelt can mean runoff goes directly into streams and rivers rather into the ground where it's needed for crop growth.

"It means less moisture in the spring, particularly for rangeland where it's really needed," he said.

All was well with this winter's mountain snowpack until March, said Colorado River Water Conservation District water resource specialist Mike Eytel.

Going into March, the Colorado River Basin snowpack was 95 percent of the normal.

"Some areas were lower," he said, such as the Yampa River basin which was 65 percent of average. Some basins, the Blue and upper Colorado in particular, were over 100 percent.

However, the warm weather has changed that picture.

Snowpack for the Roaring Fork River basin stood at 77 percent this week, said Sharon Clarke, water resource specialist for the Roaring Fork Conservancy in Basalt.

The numbers "dropped pretty badly last week" with the high temperatures, she said. Then there was a bit of a turnaround with the colder weather last weekend, which moderated the snowpack a bit as snow fell in the high country.

Such annual statistics are also relative. "It's still not as bad as 2002," when the state had a severe drought, Clarke said.

Last year also saw an early, accelerated runoff, she said.

Area rivers were running high this week, charged with melting snow. The Roaring Fork River gauge at Veltus Park in Glenwood Springs recorded 890 cubic feet per second (cfs) Tuesday. Average flow there is 573, Clarke said.

Flows on the Colorado River through Glenwood measured 2,700 cfs at Devereux Road. Average flows for that day are 1,700 cfs, Eytel said.

"We don't like to see it that high this time of year," he said.

Early melting also effects the water content of the snow. "We've seen a rapid dropoff in the snow water equivalent," Eytel said. "This time of year we like to see 12 to 14 inches of water."

Most sites are now measuring about 10 inches.

One bright spot in the early runoff picture is the fact that meltdown is occurring chiefly at lower elevations.

"Above 10,000 feet it's not melting as fast," Eytel said, so there is still a snow savings account to charge rivers and streams.

In addition, West Slope reservoirs are expected to fill this spring, he said.

But there still remains the potential for problems. If runoff comes by early June, Eytel said, "there could be a potential Shoshone call and even a Grand Valley call."

A call or demand to exercise a water right on the Colorado River could be made by the Shoshone Hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Canyon and by the Grand Valley irrigation associations, both of which are historically senior calls on the Colorado River. If that happened, farmers and ranchers with junior irrigation rights could experience water shortages this summer.

"This could be an interesting year if April doesn't come out to be a snowy month," Eytel said.



Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 16605

dgray@postindependent.com



Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO