A Look at the (Limited) Snowpack

The Colorado Basin River Forecast Center has recently updated it's web site, which provides easy access to snowpack information from the NRCS SNOwpack TELemetry (SNOTEL) stations across Utah and the adjoining region.  Be sure to click on Percent Average when you go to the site by clicking on the link above.

Their analysis confirms what we already know.  Things don't look pretty with regards to snowpack snow water equivalent with most sites in Utah below average, many well below average.

Snowbird is sitting at 74% of average, and just below the median 1981–2010 snowpack snow water equivalent.

That 74% is based on the observed snowpack snow water equivalent of 6 inches, compared to an average of 8.1 inches.  The difference is perhaps a couple of storms.  It would be quite easy to catch up and get above average, but as mentioned yesterday, the forecasts are not optimistic.  The latest Climate Prediction Center 6–10 day outlook puts is in the heart of the most likely area of below average precipitation.

It is early, but after last year, it's hard to wait for Mother Nature to turn on the spigot.