National Weather Service, Water Supply Outlook

As of February 1, the 2013 snow accumulation season gained some ground, but remained below average according to the National Weather Service.  In the upper Rio Grande Basin, the snowpack improved to 78% of average overall, up from 65% from last month and slightly better than 77% from this time last year.  In the Arkansas Basin, the snowpack was at 63% of average overall, improving slightly from 61% from last month, but tracking well behind the 81% of average this time last year. 

Water year precipitation is running below average across both the basins.  As of February 1, the upper Rio Grande Basin reported 73% of average precipitation, up from 62% from a month ago, but much lower than 102% from last year at this time.  The Arkansas Basin reported 63% of average precipitation, up slightly from 61% of average from last month but much lower than 88% of average this time last year. 

Overall reservoir storage is running well below average across southern Colorado.  Storage in the Upper Rio Grande Basin at the end of January was at 51% of average overall, up slightly from 50% from a month ago but well below 66% of average this time last year.  In the Arkansas Basin, storage was at 57% of overall storage, up slightly from 56% a month ago, but well below 94% of average at year ago at this time.  For the Upper Rio Grande Basin, streamflow volumes for the upcoming runoff season are outlooked to be below average.  For the Arkansas Basin, streamflow volumes are predicted to be well below average.  This outlook is based on recent observations of snowpack and assumes normal precipitation for the remainder of the snow season. 

Precipitation levels for portions of southeast Colorado as of the end of January are in inches:
                                          2013                       2012

Eads                                   0.04                        0.02
Cheraw                               0.14                        0.09
Haswell                              0.01                        0.00
Holly                                   0.39                        0.00
J. Martin Dam                     0.04                        0.00
La Junta                              0.02                        0.01
Lamar                                 0.14                        0.00
Las Animas                         0.00                        0.14
Springfield                          0.27                        0.04
Trinidad                              0.08                        0.05
Two Buttes                         0.20                        0.01
Walsh                                 0.42                        0.08