January 9, 2008--Snow holds off drought, but will it last? (Pueblo Chieftain)
Storms in late 2007, coupled with massive snowfall this week, pulled Colorado out of drought conditions, surprising state weather watchers. But the relatively heavy snowpack now could be offset by warm, dry conditions in late spring, said Nolan Doesken, state climatologist. “La Nina is still in place, and in forecasting, the odds are that it will stay warm and dry,” Doesken said. Snowpack in the Rio Grande basin was at 164 percent of long-term average Tuesday, the highest in the state. Meanwhile the Arkansas Basin was at 146 percent and the Upper Colorado, which supplies water to the valley, was at 143 percent of average. While the early snowpack is important, it is not a good indicator for water supply in the later spring. “The tendency has been for the springs to be warm and dry and not as great a contributor to runoff,” Doesken said. “It’s the March, April and sometimes early May accumulation that adds to the supply. It may be that is the exception, not the rule.”
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