The Hill
Snowpack continues to grow in California, Colorado River Basin
Sharon Udasin – February 16, 2023
Deep snowpack has continued to accumulate and expand in California, the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin, federal meteorologists reported on Thursday.
Following a series of severe storms that drenched the region earlier this winter, moderate systems with less moisture have yielded smaller but persistent gains, according to an update from the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).
Total “snow water equivalent” — the amount of water stored in snowpack — at a subset of monitoring stations in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona has reached the highest or second highest levels to date, NIDIS reported.
Such accumulation is now 150 percent above the mid-February average at many of these stations, according to the agency.
Snow water equivalent levels at many of the long-term snow courses in California’s central and southern Sierra Nevada have achieved record highs not seen in 60 to 90 years, the meteorologists added.
While NIDIS reported good news for snowpack in much of the West, the agency warned that much of Oregon, Washington and Idaho experienced very little growth over the past 30 days.
Most of these areas are not yet considered to be experiencing “snow drought,” but a relatively dry January has left open the possibility that such conditions could develop in the coming months, according to NIDIS.
Another location of concern cited by NIDIS is the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico — including the headwaters region for the Rio Grande and Arkansas rivers.
Across this region, snow water equivalent sits at about 45 to 60 percent of quantities typical for the date, the agency reported.