Snowpack in the Roaring Fork Watershed is 36% of normal for this time of year. Over the last week, local SNOTEL sites recorded daily temperatures 15F warmer than average resulting in rapid snowmelt! For example, McClure Pass and Schofield Pass in the Crystal River headwaters lost 6.0 and 4.1 inches of SWE, respectively, in one week. Given the significant loss of SWE in the last week, snowpack in the Roaring Fork Watershed peaked at 9.3” of SWE on March 10. Historically, peak SWE is reached on April 7 with 17.1” of SWE. This increased snowmelt tripled flows in the Roaring Fork River in Aspen, quadrupled flows in the Crystal River in Redstone, and increased flows fivefold in the Fryingpan River in Meredith over the last week. Due to these large and unusually early flow increases, rivers are flowing much above average for this time of year.