Snowpack lags across southern Colorado, strong for Denver and Colorado Springs

Snowpack has stacked up near or above average in critical areas that serve Denver and Colorado Springs, but is lagging in Colorado's southern mountains. 

While the season started strong with heavy snow in November across the southern Rockies and southeastern plains, the conditions have eroded well below average. 

"The storm tracks have just missed the southern portion and southeastern Colorado," said Peter Goble, assistant state climatologist. "They have been left with the drier and often windy conditions." 

The dividing line across the state between strong snowpack up north and deficits in the south is roughly U.S. 50, said Nathan Elder, Denver Water's manager of water supply. 

The Natural Resource Conservation Service data shows the two southern most river basins have received a little more than 65% of the median snowpack. While the area that serves the Colorado headwaters has received 101% of median and the area that serves the South Platte is tracking at 125% of median. 

The strong snowpack in the Colorado headwaters area is good news for Denver and Colorado Springs, who rely heavily on those areas.

Without a large river of its own, Colorado Springs imports more than half its water from the Colorado River Basin. Denver also relies on the South Platte.   

"We are feeling pretty good. We are a little bit better on the Colorado River than we were the last few years, this time of year," Elder said. 

Another major source of water for Colorado Springs, the Arkansas River Basin, has a snowpack of 76%.

The coming weeks are critical across the state, as March typically brings some of the heaviest snows to the state and storms are expected over the next two weeks in western Colorado and the mountains. But it may fall short. 

"I don’t anticipate we will fully make up the deficits by the end of the month," Goble said. 

For the highly reservoir-dependent Colorado Springs and Denver, there is more good news, with strong storage already in place. 

"We are fortunate to be in a good position now, with about three years of storage available," Colorado Springs Utilities said, in response to Gazette questions. 

If water is available after meeting the city's needs, Utilities will lease water back to farmers in the Lower Arkansas Valley. Last year, the water provider leased more than 20,000 acre-feet of water to agriculture, the statement said. 

Colorado Springs Utilities is still working on plans to expand storage in Montgomery Reservoir near the summit of Hoosier Pass. The agency expects to submit its permit applications for that project by the end of the year. 

“It’s great to get a few years of average to above-average snowpack and precipitation to help fill our reservoirs," said Nick Harris, water resources engineer for Utilities. "Storage helps see us through drier years, which have become more common in Colorado and the western United States the over past few decades. Drought is a risk we consider in our long-term planning, and it’s one reason our plan calls for increased storage capacity.”

Denver is also in a strong position with 82% of its reservoir space filled a bit of ahead of the 80% expected for this time of year. Right ahead of runoff, at the end of March, Denver's reservoirs reach their low point, Elder said. 

At the same time, farmers who rely on McPhee Reservoir in the southwest corner of the state are bracing for the second tough year in a row, said Ken Curtis, general manager for the Dolores Water Conservancy District. It would take an exceptional spring to recover, he said. McPhee is along the Dolores River and part of the Colorado River Basin. The lake is only holding about 50,000 acre-feet, compared to its regular 100,000 acre-feet, Curtis said. 

"Everybody is praying," he said. 

He expects farmers will not receive their full allocations of water and they will have to cut back production. 

"Hard to pay bills when you can’t grow crops," Curtis said. 

While some storms are moving in, the winter was mild and the area didn't receive any precipitation in January and some lower elevations don't have any snow. 

With drought conditions across the West in states such as Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, it could be a tough year for the Colorado River and Lake Powell.

Lake Powell provides water to large urban centers in California, Nevada and Arizona and it has hit record lows in recent years. It's likely to see below average inflows again this year, according to the Natural Resource Conservation Service.