3/6/24 Wednesday 1 pm
There is a slight chance of a few high-elevation snow showers this afternoon and evening into Thursday. The snow will become more widespread by Thursday afternoon and evening with a chance of advisory-level snowfall (6 to 12 inches) in the northern portions of the forecast area by Saturday morning. This small storm should favor Telluride and Red Mountain Pass. Some models indicate a farther south track that may set up across Archuleta County and over to Wolf Creek Pass.
People have started asking me about the Snowpack, specifically, the question is “How bad is the Snowpack right now?” The answer is it’s not great, but probably not as bad as you think.
The first highlighted column is Current (inches). These were the levels as of 6 pm last night. The second column is Today’s Median (inches). That refers to where we usually stand on this date. The last column I highlighted is Today’s Median percentage.
So looking at the graph above, Wolf Creek Summit is sitting on 22.3 Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) inches. The average for this day of the year at that location is 24.8 inches. The 22.3 inches is 90% of the average for what it should be on this date. It also shows that there are currently four locations with over 100%. Nothing like last year, however last year the mountains saw some heavy late spring snow storms that bolstered the snowpack numbers. April 7th, last year, the column showing percent of Today’s Median ranged from 146% to 629%.
For now, one can conclude that we are slightly below average but by no means deficient for this date. Overall, the basin is 90% of where it should be for this date. It’s too early for me to throw in the towel for the season.
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