Aspen Journalism is compiling a data dashboard highlighting metrics of local public interest, updated weekly.
Snowpack reaches 107% of normal
Recent snowstorms boosted snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin, reaching an average of 9 inches of snow-water equivalent per site on Jan. 21, or 107% of median. That’s up from 7.3 inches on Jan. 14, according to NRCS.
SNOTEL sites that monitor snowfall throughout the winter measured the snowpack at Independence Pass at 86.5% of median on Jan. 21 with a “snow water equivalent” (SWE) of 7.7 inches, up from 6 inches and from 73.2 % of normal on Jan. 14. Last year on Jan. 21, the SNOTEL station up the pass (located at elevation 10,600 feet) recorded an SWE of 9 inches.
The monitoring station at McClure Pass, located at elevation 8,770 feet, recorded a SWE of 7.2 inches on Jan. 21 or 84% of median. That’s up from a SWE of 6.1 inches on Jan. 14. Last year, on Jan. 21, the station measured a snowpack holding 15 inches of water.
On the northeast side of the Roaring Fork Basin, snowpack at Ivanhoe, which sits at an elevation of 10,400 feet, reached 10.4 inches of SWE on Jan. 21, or 142.5% of median.
Snowpack at North Lost Trail, which sits at an elevation of 9,219 feet, has reached 9 inches of SWE on Jan. 21, which is up from 7.9 inches on Jan. 14.
Snowpack at Schofield Pass reached 14.6 inches on Jan. 21, which represents 94% of median. That’s up from 12.3 inches on Jan. 14. Schofield Pass sits at an elevation of 10,700 feet between Marble and Crested Butte.
Snow water equivalent — the metric used to track snowpack — is the amount of water contained within the snowpack, which will become our future water supply running in local rivers and streams.
Lake Powell’s elevation is still going down
Lake Powell‘s water levels peaked in early July and are now decreasing. On Jan. 21, the reservoir was 35.25% full (based on updated 2017-18 sedimentation data). That’s down from Jan. 14 when the nation’s second-largest reservoir was at 35.54%.
Last year, on July 1, 2022, the Bureau of Reclamation revised its data on the amount of water stored in Lake Powell, with a new, lower tally taking into account a 4% drop in the reservoir’s total available capacity between 1986 and 2018 due to sedimentation. Aspen Journalism in July published a story explaining the that drop in storage due to sedimentation. We will be now using the 2017-18 sedimentation data only.
On Jan. 21, 2023, the reservoir was 23.58% full.
On Jan. 21, Lake Powell’s elevation reached 3,566 feet, or 134 feet from full pool, which is down from 3,566.9 feet on Jan. 14. Last year, on Jan. 21 the reservoir reached 3,524.17 feet in elevation, or 175.83 feet from full pool.
The “minimum power pool” for turbines generating hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam is 3,490 feet, and 3,525 feet has been set as a buffer to ensure that the reservoir and the turbines can continue to function properly.
Air temperatures going up
High air temperatures at the Aspen airport went from 21°F on Jan. 8 to 38°F on Jan. 18, which is 3.2 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, low temperatures went from -7°F on Jan. 16 to 16°F on Jan. 18.
