What is snowpack? What is an average snow pack for this time of year?
Snowpack in Colorado refers to the accumulation of snow that gradually adds up over the course of the winter, mostly in the mountains. The water content of snowpack is what water officials monitor closely because it directly relates to the amount of water that will end up in Colorado’s rivers, streams, reservoirs and irrigation canals during the late spring and summer. The water content in mountain snowpack normally reaches its greatest amount in mid-April but sometimes does not peak until late April or early May. Based on average measurements of more than 70 monitoring locations in high and moderately high snow accumulation areas in Colorado’s mountains, the average snowpack water content is about 18 inches at its peak. This year, the snowpack water content reached its maximum in late March, averaging about 10 inches. Mountain snow has been melting steadily since then, and, as of April 24, the statewide average snow water equivalent remaining in the mountain snowpack was 5 inches comp
