COLORADO SPRINGS — The weather pattern over the past couple of weeks of February counters a slow start to the snowpack season in Colorado. "We depend on snowpack and snow melt for a vast majority of our water supply," said Kalsoum Abbasi, who tracks water resources for Colorado Springs Utilities. Water professionals like Abbasi want to see even more snow.
Snowpack turns to run-off providing water for communities, agriculture, and recreation in Colorado. Drought conditions over the last year also contributed to devastating wildfires in the state.
The 25 reservoirs in the Colorado Springs Utilities network of water storage, still have several years of water stored. Another dry year could take a toll.
Snowpack started slow in December and January. "February 1st we were looking at snowpack averages maybe 75 to 78% of average," said Abbasi. In the two weeks since then multiple snowstorms helped make up for low totals. Numbers in the water basins important to Colorado Springs are now at or just below normal. It's certainly a relief to see those numbers go up the past couple of weeks."February is when data tracking for the Colorado snow season officially begins. It is off to a good start, but the numbers have to be maintained with more storms through May.
