Wildlife Conditions:
·
CDOW teamed up
with Parks and leased water from Pueblo Water Works to maintain
stream flows in the Arkansas River through Pueblo. See 2/9/07 CDOW
press release for more details.
·
CDOW Commission
authorizes winter feeding in SE Colorado. The Commission has
authorized up to $160,000 for emergency wildlife management because
of severe winter condition in SE Colorado. See 2/9/07 CDOW press
release for more details.
Statewide
Water Conditions:
·
“DROUGHT OVER” at
least according to this Sunday’s Headline in the Denver Post
à
okay it was the sports section
and they were talking golf and Howell at the Nissan Open but …..
According to the state climatologist, if one was to look at a
reasonable long term precipitation index, such as the 48 month SPI,
which showed that only 1% of the state was in drought, one might
consider it possible that the drought is over. Maybe this means the
Task Force meetings with end … not so, there is another meeting
scheduled for March. According to my theory, the drought isn’t
officially over until the meetings end.
Forecasts:
·
El Nino is gone –
Weird El Nino, started late and ended early! The NOAA forecaster
stated we would be lucky to get a wet March. Klaus also forecasted
average conditions for April – June throughout most of the state,
except the northwest which is predicted to be dry.
·
Competing
forecasts: John Henz with a consulting firm predicted major
mountain snows will pile up along and south of the 1-70 corridor.
The South Platte basin will experience 2-4 additional wet upslope
snows. Essentially he forecasts a wet March throughout the state.
Stay tuned to see who wins the battle of the forecasters!!
Abbreviated Basin Updates (From Division of Water Resource’s Water
Supply Conditions Report Dated February
2007):
S. Platte
– NRCS reports
that as of February 20th the snowpack is at 112% of
normal. Storage for the following reservoirs: Dillon, Horsetooth,
11-Mile, Cheeseman, Jackson and Barr Lake, were 112% of normal as of
the end of January. Cumulative storage in the major plains
reservoirs: Julesburg, North Sterling and Prewitt is at 52% of
capacity. Cold weather conditions kept many reservoir owners from
diverting their full decreed allocation both on the plains and on
the tributaries. Thus, there were several days of free river during
January along the mainstem of the South Platte downstream of the
Denver area even with reservoirs still at very low levels on the
plains. It will be difficult to fill all of the major plains
irrigation reservoir unless we have excess water during the early
irrigation season eliminating the need for irrigators to place a
call.
Arkansas
– NRCS reports that as of February 20th the snowpack is
at 118% of normal. Flow at the gaging station Arkansas River near
Portland was 508 cfs, compared to the long-term average of 368 cfs.
Storage in Turquoise, Twin Lakes, Pueblo and John Martin reservoirs
totaled 83% of normal as of the end of January.
Rio Grande –
NRCS reports that
as of February 20th the snowpack is at 96% of normal. The
Conejos River near Mogote had a mean flow of 52 cfs (106% of
normal). Storage in Platoro, Rio Grande and Santa Maria reservoirs
totaled 89% of normal as of the end of January. The NRCS forecasts
are predicting streamflow in area streams to be near average during
the 2007 irrigation season, ranging from 125% of average for Sangre
de Cristo Creek to 92% of average for the San Antonio River.
Gunnison
– NRCS reports
that as of February 20th the snowpack is at 82% of
normal. Storage in Taylor Park, Crawford and Fruitland reservoirs
totaled 125% of normal as of the end of January. The first week of
February brought no relief as the expected snowstorms slid past the
basin without much snowfall. Current snowpack conditions in the
separate subasins vary widely. The most recent NRCS forecasted
runoffs vary from a low of 82% of normal for the Gunnison River near
Gunnison, to a high of 98% for the Lake Fork at Gateview. The NRCS
forecasts that there is only a 10% change that the Gunnison Basin
will reach average snowpack. However, John Henz forecasts that the
Gunnison will reach the average – Stay tuned.
Colorado
- NRCS reports that as of February 20th the snowpack is
at 94% of normal. Most reservoirs are expected to fill from spring
runoff. However, Granby Reservoir is not expecting to fill and is
projecting at least a 100,000 acre-feet shortage.
Yampa/White
– NRCS reports
that as of February 20th the snowpack is at 80% of
normal. Flow at the gaging station Yampa River at Steamboat was 194
cfs as compared to the long-term average of 99 cfs. As with the
previous month, January precipitation was well below average for the
basin. Area reservoirs are frozen, with good ice fishing reported.
Elkhead Reservoir remains closed to all recreational activities.
San Juan/Dolores
– NRCS reports that as of February 20th the snowpack is
at 78% of normal. Flow at the gaging station Animas River near
Durango was 274 cfs which was 135% of normal. Storage in McPhee was
108% of normal, Vallecito was 143% of normal, and Lemon reservoir
totaled 173% of normal as of the end of January. The storage in
Lemon Reservoir is the highest amount stored for an end of January
period based on 43 years of record. The current storm track is
south of the Division but they are hopeful the storm track will move
to the north slightly as they enter the larger snow fall months.
New daily
stream forecasts are available on the web at:
http://www.co.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/fcst/site/current/daily/maps_graphs/daily_forecasts.html
