As heavy piles of snow wait in the mountains and most rivers are still running at or below normal — at a time they should be raging — the National Weather Service warned again today that June could bring flooding to Colorado.
The state’s spring runoff normally begins in early to mid-May and peaks by the second week of June, but some parts of the high country are still buried by up to 16 feet of snow. National Weather Service hydrologist Treste Huse said a spate of warm temperatures in June could send water over the banks of many rivers and streams in the week ahead.
To help residents and others monitor flooding, the U.S. Geological Survey has established its WaterAlert system, which allows those who sign up to set parameters for specific rivers and receive an alert by text or e-mail when the waterway passes that threshold.
The site is at
Colorado’s statewide snowpack today is at 232 percent, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Snowpack is even higher in the mountains — 261 percent in the Colorado River basin.
Meanwhile, runoff is still running late. The Arkansas River near Leadville was running at just 31 percent of normal today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The National Weather Service has not yet released its June climate outlook.
In the short term, the central and northern mountains are expected to get showers through the weekend, but temperatures next week in Dillon, for example, are expected to soar to nearly 70 degrees.
Temperatures across the mountains have been more than 10 degrees cooler than normal in May and up to 7 degrees cooler along the Front Range, according to National Weather Service records.
