Aspen Journalism is compiling a data dashboard highlighting metrics of local public interest, updated weekly.
Roaring Fork basin snowpack gained an inch over the weekend
This weekend’s snowstorm boosted snowpack in the Roaring Fork basin reaching an average of 10.1 inches of snow-water equivalent per site on Feb. 4, or 102% of median. That’s up from 9.2 inches on Feb. 2 and 9 inches on Jan. 28, according to NRCS, as snowpack had remained unchanged since last Monday.
SNOTEL sites that monitor snowfall throughout the winter measured the snowpack at Independence Pass at 90.1% of median on Feb. 4 with a “snow water equivalent” (SWE) of 9.1 inches, up from 7.6 inches and from 78.3% of normal on Jan. 28. This increase was fueled by a recent snowstorm. The SNOTEL station recorded only 7.8 inches of SWE on Friday, Feb. 2 before the storm hit the mountains over the weekend. Last year on Feb. 4, the SNOTEL station up the pass (located at elevation 10,600 feet) recorded an SWE of 10.2 inches.
The monitoring station at McClure Pass, located at elevation 8,770 feet, recorded a SWE of 9 inches on Feb. 4 or 90% of median. That’s up from a SWE of 7.4 inches on Jan. 28. Last year, on Feb. 4, the station measured a snowpack holding 16.2 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 11.5 inches of SWE on Feb. 4, or 147.4% of median.
Snowpack at North Lost Trail, which sits at an elevation of 9,219 feet, has reached 10.2 inches of SWE on Feb. 4, which is up from 9.1 inches on Jan. 28.
Snowpack at Schofield Pass reached 15.5 inches on Feb. 4, which represents 84% of median. That’s up from 14.6 inches on Jan. 28. 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 water levels keep slowly decreasing
Lake Powell‘s water levels peaked in early July and are now decreasing. On Feb. 4, the reservoir was 34.82% full (based on updated 2017-18 sedimentation data). That’s down from Jan. 28 when the nation’s second-largest reservoir was at 35%.
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 2022 published a story explaining the that drop in storage due to sedimentation. We will be now using the 2017-18 sedimentation data only.
On Feb. 4, 2023, the reservoir was 23.32% full.
On Feb. 4, Lake Powell’s elevation reached 3,564.6 feet, or 135.4 feet from full pool, which is down from 3,565.2 feet on Jan. 28. Last year, on Feb. 4 the reservoir reached 3,523.06 feet in elevation, or 176.94 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.
High air temperatures going up, low temperatures going down
High air temperatures at the Aspen airport went from 34°F on Jan. 26 to 42°F on Jan. 28, which is 7 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, low temperatures went from 18°F on Jan. 26 to 10°F on Jan. 28.
