Snowpack in the Roaring Fork Watershed is 90% of normal for this time of year. Multiple days of cooler temperatures and precipitation over the past week have slowed the recently accelerating snowmelt for the time being. With less snowmelt entering local rivers, stream flows in the watershed have decreased and are currently below average (53-97% of normal). The one exception is the Lower Fryingpan River, where flows have increased from 156 cfs to 201 cfs. This follows an increase in Ruedi Reservoir releases at the end of last week, which was carried out to maintain space in the reservoir for upcoming spring runoff.

Stream flow, diversion and reservoir data acquired from U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Colorado Division of Water Resources, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Roaring Fork Watershed stream gages: www.roaringfork.org/your-watershed/river-flow/

Colorado drought conditions: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu