Laurine Lassalle is Aspen Journalism’s data desk editor, where she works to catalogue and analyze local public data. She also heads our our “Tracking the Curve” project, documenting COVID-19 in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties. She has a master’s degree in data and investigative journalism from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on environmental reporting.
• Aug. 1 saw the most precipitation in Aspen of any day since 2018.
• Lake Powell storage falls to a record low of 32.18% of capacity.
• Out-of-state smoke worsens air quality.
• Lake Powell storage falls to a record low of 32.45% of capacity.
• Lake Powell’s surface elevation drops to 3,554.24 feet, also a record low.
• Roaring Fork River flowing at 32.4 cfs at Aspen, or 32.7% of average.
• July occupancy of 77% is up 12 points on 2019.
• Roaring Fork flows of 46 cfs at Aspen are 33.1% of average.
• Lake Powell storage falls to 32.8%
When the ski lifts shut down in mid-March 2020, the city of Aspen recorded a significant drop in traffic at the entrance to Aspen. But this year, the daily average for the months of March through June is getting back to 2019 levels, up to 23,510 cars per day on average for June 2021.
The Colorado River below Glenwood Springs ran at 2,270 cfs on July 7, which is 34.76% of average for the day. On the same day, the Roaring Fork just upstream of Aspen was flowing at 89.7 cfs, which is 38.7% of average.
While 2020 overall posted the lowest flow levels at the Aspen wastewater treatment plant in 10 years, the fall months had the highest readings for any September-November stretch in that time.
After a low summer season for Aspen and Snowmass tourism last year due to the pandemic, this summer promises to get back on track and even exceed 2019’s occupancy rates.
With the peak flows coming in low and early, streamflows are now registering as low as 24 percent of average, on the Colorado River at Westwater.
In Eagle County, which has the largest Latino population among the three counties making up the Roaring Fork Valley, 60% of white people have received one dose, compared with 15% of Latinos.
“This use, combined with new patterns of social distancing, has translated into visible impacts and degradation on the land,” according to OST director Tennenbaum.
