[cdt-l] Snow Pack

[cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net (Jeff Braun)]

While southwest Colorado has returned to near normal snowpack, Montana's
snowpack remains well below last year and is currently at near record lows.
Last year's  Montana snowpack was about normal or just below normal at this
time.  A very dry spring and early summer, has often been cited as being a
major contributor to the forest fires last summer. Likewise, a wet spring and
early summer this year could prevent another major fire season from occuring.
Regardless it is unlikely that Montana's snowpack will reach normal levels
unless near record snowfall occurs in March and April. This seems very unlikely
with above normal temperatures and no significant chance of precipatation
forcast in the next week or so.

Links:

Missoulian article, Snowpack Dangerously Low:

http://missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news01.txt

Montana Snow Products (similar to Colorado's link below)

http://www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov/swcs/snow/snow.html

Jeff


soren - wrote:

> Thanks David, for the update on the Wolf Creek area.  According to the
> Department of Agriculture, the Rio Grande River Basin has over three times
> the amount of snow this year compared to the same time last year.  A good
> site, I recommend it to anyone planning a thru-hike, is the US Department of
> Agriculture Natural Resources page:
> (http://www.co.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/snow-index.htm)
> Here you can get snowpack depths, percentage of normals, resevoir levels,
> river gage info and countless other valuable or redundant numbers.  There
> are literally hundreds of "data sites" from deadman to wolf creek pass to
> beartown.  The best stats, I think, are for "total snow depth" and
> "snow/water equivalent percentage of normal".  Growing up in the Wasatch I
> learned its not always the foot of snow that matters, but how much water
> that foot contains.
>
> According to Snowtel, wolf creek summit has seen about 101 percent of normal
> snow/water equivalent this year (prior to the always heavy spring snows of
> course).  That is much greater than the last two, relatively dry, years.
> (Tell that to the thru-hikers post holing out of the pass!)  Anyway, this
> site is invaluable to the prospective hiker who does not live in the four
> corners area and is unable to moniter the winter/spring precipitation daily.
>   For river depths and flood warnings in the area check out the fabulous
> Colorado Basin River Forecast Center site at:  http://www.cbrfc.gov
>
> --Soren.
>
> >From: "David Patterson" <wr_ddp@hotmail.com>
> >Reply-To: cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> >To: cdt-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> >Subject: Re: [cdt-l] Snow Pack
> >Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001 02:14:55
> >
> >Just got back from a trip to S. Colorado and the Hot Springs in Pagosa.
> >Wolf
> >Creek ski area has received over 300" of snow this year. Snow depth at the
> >pass was 2.5-3 feet deep.
> >
> >Note that the ranges in New Mexico have received quite a bit of snow too.
> >
> >David
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >CDT-L mailing list
> >CDT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
> >http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
[ *** too many quoted lines.  automatically truncated *** ]