Colorado snowpack levels fed by spring storms rose to above average in April and then sharply dropped by May, according to federal Natural Resource Conservation Service data.
“It was a pretty quick decline,” said Mike Gillespie, the service’s snow survey supervisor. “We usually don’t see that sharp a drop until later in the season.”
While temperatures were not warmer than normal, dust storms that coated snowpack may have increased the amount of heat being absorbed, Gillespie said.
Still, most of the state’s river basins are in better shape than a month ago when levels were consistently below average, according to the service.
Reservoir levels are at 106 percent of average.
The peak snowpacks were reached on April 19th, with a statewide average of 109 percent of the historical average.
Snowpack totals in the South Platte basin increased from 93 percent of average to 112 percent of average during a single storm in mid-April.
By May 1 the statewide average had dropped to 90 percent of the historical average for that date.
The hardest hit area is the San Juan, Animas, Delores and San Miguel area in southwestern Colorado, which was not hit by the storms. Snowpack is 60 percent of average.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
