• Aspen and Snowmass, combined, recorded 75.8% paid occupancy in February. That’s down from last year’s 78.5%.
• Snowpack at Ivanhoe reached 17.6 inches of snow-water equivalent, or 130.4% of median on April 2. That’s above the median seasonal peak of 17.2 inches.
• Lake Powell’s elevation is still hovering around 3,522 feet, or three feet below target elevation.

Author Archives: Laurine Lassalle
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.
Data dashboard: Roaring Fork basin snowpack keeps rising after recent storms
• Snowpack at McClure Pass reached 181% of median on March 26.
• Lake Powell’s elevation was at 3,521.8 feet on March 28, or 3.2 feet below target elevation.
• Aspen recorded three days of ‘moderate’ air quality last week.
Tracking the Curve
Eagle County has reported 18,873 COVID-19 cases since March 2020 when the pandemic started. Garfield County has added 18,069 cases, while Pitkin County has recorded 8,086 cases.
Data dashboard: Lake Powell on the rise for the first time in months
• Roaring Fork basin snowpack reached 136% of median on March 19.
• Lake Powell’s elevation increased for the first time in months from 3,520.5 feet last week to 3.521 feet on March 19.
• High air temperatures are on the rise as they gained about 10 degrees in four days.
Data dashboard: Roaring Fork basin snowpack exceeds median peak following weekend storm
• Snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin reached 124.5% of average on March 12 or 138% of median with 19.3 inches of snow-water equivalent, according to NOAA.
• Lake Powell’s water elevation was down to 3,520.5 feet on March 12, or 4.5 feet below target elevation.
Data dashboard: Snowpack still above average and climbing
• Snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin reached 120% of average on March 5 or 129% of median.
• Lake Powell is 22.76% of full as of March 5.
• Lake Powell’s elevation is down to 3,520.8 feet or 4.2 feet below target elevation.
Report sheds light on child care capacity gap across the Aspen-to-Parachute region
The Licensed Provider Survey Data Report, released last month by Confluence Early Childhood Education Coalition (CECE), showed that there is about one licensed spot available for every two kids across the region, with capacity constraint driven by low teachers pay and high cost of living in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys.
Data dashboard: McClure Pass snowpack hits 143% of average
• Overall snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin reached 120% of average for Feb. 26 or 129% of median with 16.5 inches of snow-water equivalent.
• Lake Powell’s elevation was down to 3,521.1 feet on Feb. 26. That’s 3.9 feet below the target elevation of 3,525.
• Air temperatures keep swinging. High temperatures ranged from 25°F to 45°F, while low temperatures went from -12°F to 14°F in four days.
Data dashboard: Lake Powell sets new record low
• Snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin reached 117% of average for Feb. 19 or 124% of median with 14.8 inches of snow-water equivalent.
• Low air temperatures dropped as low as -12 on Feb. 16, or about 21 degrees below normal.
• Lake Powell’s elevation was 3.3 feet below the target elevation of 3,525 on Feb. 19.
X Games bus ridership rebounds but still lagging pre-COVID years
The new operator of Winter X Games is not releasing estimated attendance totals from last month’s event, although other data indicates that crowds were up from last year but still lagging the massive numbers seen during the pre-COVID-19 years.