Tag: snowpack
-
Record-setting November snowstorm brings some drought relief to Colorado
After an abnormally warm summer and fall, November’s snow has helped relieve Colorado drought conditions, particularly in the southeastern corner of the state. The major storm that started on Election Day and set a 30-year record for November snowfall on Pikes Peak also dropped several feet of snow in the lower Arkansas Valley and across…
-
NEWS | Why a good snow year can’t save the Colorado River
The Colorado River is one of the West’s most vital resources. But 20 years of drought have stressed the entire river basin, forcing federal officials to call for massive cuts in water use. This winter, in the water-towers of the west, storms have dropped more than double the average snowpack in some Colorado mountains. But…
-
Tipping Point: Colorado River strain casts shadow over recreation
Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest body of water, is at its lowest level ever. Plagued by drought and meager snowpack, the reservoir is not even 50% full. In an attempt to shore up Lake Powell and keep power-generating turbines turning, regulators pulled about 36,000 acre-feet from Blue Mesa last year, causing the closure of the…
-
Drought conditions still easing slowly across Colorado
Drought plaguing the Southwest continues, but Colorado saw another week of small improvements, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The biggest improvements have come in the eastern half of the state, while the Western Slope has yet to see the same reprieve. “Widespread beneficial rainfall, exceeding 1 inch, this…
-
Should Colorado enter into a multi-state program to manage its water use?
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Demand management: It’s a term that makes water users along the Colorado River nervous — and Colorado state lawmakers, too. In May, the upper Colorado River Basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) and the lower-basin states (Arizona, Nevada and California) signed a drought contingency plan…
-
Should Colorado enter into a multi-state program to manage its water use?
Demand management: It’s a term that makes water users along the Colorado River nervous — and Colorado state lawmakers, too. In May, the upper Colorado River Basin states (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) and the lower-basin states (Arizona, Nevada and California) signed a drought contingency plan (DCP) intended to prevent wide-scale water shortages in the future. That…
-
Central Colorado creeping back into drought
Reservoirs levels dropped in August has hot, dry weather took hold, and there may have been a new record set for the hottest day in Colorado history in August. The Colorado Water Availability Task Force, which meets monthly, took a look this week at reservoir levels, precipitation and the all-important drought forecast. Last week, the…
-
Central Colorado creeping back into drought
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Reservoirs levels dropped in August has hot, dry weather took hold, and there may have been a new record set for the hottest day in Colorado history in August. The Colorado Water Availability Task Force, which meets monthly, took a look this week at reservoir…
-
Salt impacting water quality throughout the West, but a ‘grand deal’ has improved it
Salt in the Colorado River could threaten drinking water for millions of people dependent on its runoff. The Colorado is the most significant water supply source in the West, but it carries an annual salt load of nine to 10 million tons, said Don Barnett, executive director of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum. That’s…
-
Salt impacting water quality throughout the West, but a ‘grand deal’ has improved it
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Salt in the Colorado River could threaten drinking water for millions of people dependent on its runoff. The Colorado is the most significant water supply source in the West, but it carries an annual salt load of nine to 10 million tons, said Don Barnett,…