Colorado's snowpack drops again amid warm spring
posted by: Jeffrey Wolf Web Producer
Created: 6/5/2006 3:24 PM MST - Updated: 6/5/2006 3:24 PM MST
DENVER (AP) - What a difference a month makes.
Colorado's snowpack was 65 percent of average at the beginning of May after what seemed to be a promising winter. A month later, it's down to 26 percent, ending any hope of an above-average water runoff this summer.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service says snowmelt is tracking anywhere from two to four months earlier than normal. So much snow is melting that some rivers have already hit their peak flows for the year.
Southwestern Colorado has been hit the hardest. The snowpack is just 11 percent of average in the Rio Grande Basin and 6 percent in the San Juan, Animas and Dolores basin.
Meanwhile, reservoir storage across most of Colorado is at 99 percent of average, which the agency attributed to storage of the early snowmelt.
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