2019 vs 2011 snow

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mtnpull

mtnpull

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I follow a great winter / snow specific weather guy that gives great winter forecasts and snowpack analysis throughout the winter. He specifically forecasts for the wasatch front and uinta mountains areas of Utah. So not entirely applicable to lake Powell's water needs. But he did an interesting comparison from 2011 to 2019 based off from info at snowbird. The info is in the pics.
Screenshot_20190526-002920_Instagram.jpgScreenshot_20190526-002922_Instagram.jpgScreenshot_20190526-002926_Instagram.jpgScreenshot_20190526-002931_Instagram.jpgScreenshot_20190526-002936_Instagram.jpgScreenshot_20190526-002942_Instagram.jpg
 
Interesting graph. You can find find a lot of the information on the internet yourself but it takes a while to figure it out.
Below is a link to the SNOTEL website. You can get a lot of information out of this website. The snowmelt hasn't significantly started for the high country in Colorado and the Green River Basin is way above average snowpack for the end of May. I'm an optimist but I think Powell is still going to rise another 30' this year and if we are lucky it could raise 50'. If we could get another good snow pack like 2011 next year, we could even see Lake Powell full or close to full next summer.

NRCS National Water and Climate Center | Home

www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov
 
Here is a graph of one of the SNOTEL sights from the upper Colorado.
The top image is for 2019, the lower image is 2011.

2019.png

2011.png
 
Here is another SNOTEL site comparison from Colorado. Top graft is 2019 and lower graft is 2011. This SNOTEL site is just East of Grand Junction. Weather forecast calls for an 80% chance of precipitation in Grand Junction tomorrow and a chance for precipitation for the next week, so the Mesa Lakes SNOTEL site is going to finish the last couple weeks of May very strong.
At this site, the precipitation is higher so far this water year than it was in 2011. There are several other sites like this in Colorado and the Green River Basin SNOTEL sites in Utah are holding onto their snowpack much longer than average this year too. It makes me optimistic about how much water is still heading to Lake Powell. It would be great if Powell's level continued to rise through the entire month of July in 2019 like it did in 2011.

2019-mesa.png



2011-Mesa.png
 
Not to split hairs, but if you look at the peak amount 2019 it is only about 16" inches of water behind 2011, just different timing on when it peaked.
An article I just read said this has been a record water year also ?? The local SLC news has been saying for a few days that Snowbird only needed 5 more inches of snow to hit 700 total inches for the year for a record ??? I'm guessing they got it, since it has rained in the valley here several days since they stated that.
This was posted several days ago by one of the local news outlets
Snowbird Sets All Time Single Season Snowfall Record!

​
690” season-to-date total eclipses 1983/84 mark


Since then I have seen it updated to 695" and that was several days ago, cant find a current update. May have hit the 700 Inch mark. They will probably update it after the holiday, Cold and Rainy today on Memorial day here in the SLC Valley.
Another site said snowbird had a record year for Inches of water as well. I was surprised to see it eclipsed 83-84 if if get warm fast we will have some localized flooding for sure !!!!
Anyway lots of water, even though snowbird water doesn't make it to Lake Powell, we need all we can get here too!!
Keep it coming and here's to a ever rising Lake Powell !!
Mildog
 
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