Summit County Citizens Voice

The 2009-2010 winter brought a near-record snow cover to North America. click on the image for a link to an animated graphic, courtesy of NOAA.

Sixth-warmest January on record for planet Earth despite cold snaps in some regions; snowpack in mountain west well below average, Lake Powell runoff only expected to be 68 percent of normal

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Only a dusting of snow overnight, but showers remain in the forecast as Colorado is under the influence of a couple of low pressure systems that aren’t going anywhere fast. Northerly flow between the two systems should help squeeze out a few inches of snow in the north-central mountains, and passage of a cold front this afternoon may intensify precipitation for a few hours. Skies should start to dry out late Thursday ahead of a ridge of high pressure moving in from the Great Basin. Beyond that, forecasters seem hesitant to put it out there, so we’re in a wait-and-see mode.

The avalanche danger in the Vail-Summit zone remains generally at the moderate level, with pockets of considerable danger near and above treeline. Go the CAIC web site for a full update and forecast discussion.

In a national and global climate summary released this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the February temperature across the contiguous 48 states average 32.4 degrees, fully 2.2 degrees below the long-term average. Outbreaks of cold Arctic air masses resulted in near-record cold temperatures for the month in several states, including Florida (fourth-coldest) and Louisiana (fifth-coldest). Click here for the national overview.

It was a different story globally. February numbers are not complete yet, but for January 2010, the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was 1.08 degrees above the 20th century average, making it the fourth-warmest global January on record. More global info here.

Regionally, February temps were near to below normal in the Southwest and Intermountain West, with eastern Montana recording well below normal temperatures.

The Pacific Northwest, northern California and northern Nevada were mostly above normal. The warmth in the northern tier of states, especially in the Pacific Northwest (and the winter Olympics in nearby Vancouver/Whistler), as well as the cool conditions in the southern tier, are both consistent with the presence of a moderately strong El Nino this winter.

Mountain snowpack as of March 1 remained mostly below normal throughout the west except for Arizona, New Mexico and southern Utah. Portions of the Pacific Northwest and northern Intermountain region were only 50 percent – 60 percent of normal for March 1st while most of Arizona is still over 200 percent of normal.

An important regional indicator, the Colorado River spring-summer snowmelt inflow to Lake Powell, is now projected to be only 68 percent of average. This reflects very low contributions from the Green River, low contributions from the upper mainstem Colorado, and near to slightly above normal contributions from the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado.

Potentially serious drought conditions are shaping up for many parts of the West if spring precipitation is not significantly above normal.

But across the country, the average Northern Hemisphere January snow cover extent during January 2010 was above average, adding up to the the sixth largest January snow cover extent on record, according to the Rutgers University
global snow lab.

Filed under: avalanches, snow, Snow and weather, Summit County Colorado, Summit County snow and weather Tagged: | global climate summary, Lake Powell, National climate summary, snowpack, Summit County snow, summit county weather