Summit County Citizens Voice

Schofield Pass SNOTEL site registers 89 inches of snow on the ground

Statewide snowpack map as of Dec. 20.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — The winter storm of the past few days didn’t quite live up to its blockbuster billing, but it did help boost snowpack across the state. As of Dec. 20, the statewide snowpack was 115 percent of average, with all basins other than the Arkansas, the San Miguel/Dolores and the Upper Rio Grande reporting above-normal readings.

The wet snow did boost the snowpack in the southwestern corner of the state to 85 percent of average, while the Rio Grande Basin, in south-central Colorado, remains below normal, at 68 percent of average for the date.

Across the rest of Colorado, the North Platte Basin, in the far north, had the highest Dec. 20 reading, at 152 percent of average. The Colorado and the Yampa and White basins are at 137 percent of average, and the South Platte, key to Denver’s water supply, is at 124 percent of average.

The National Weather Service has also compiled some four-day storm totals from official weather stations and from trained observers. Those four-day totals include 17 inches at Eldora, 24 inches at Breckenridge Ski Area and 13.5 inches at Granby.

A trained spotter in Frisco reported 15. 4 inches, which was just four inches below the four-day storm total of 19 inches reported at Keystone Ski Area. The Dillon four-day total was nine inches.

Get the rest of the totals here.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/product.php?site=BOU&product=LSR&issuedby=BOU

Snowpack totals around the state also climbed as reported by automated SNOTEL sites, with the deepest reading, 89 inches, at Schofield Pass, between Crested Butte and Aspen, which passed the Tower site (85 inches), northeast of Steamboat along the Continental Divide — that’s about eight feet of snow on the ground.

Interestingly, the Zirkel site, west of Walden, reported 65 inches of snow on the ground, even though it’s been generally dry east of the Divide. The Spud Mountain site, just south of Silverton, reported 75 inches.

A little closer to home, the Grizzly Peak SNOTEL station, reported 53 inches, with 41 inches at Copper Mountain and 46 inches at Fremont Pass.

See the rest of the readings here.

Filed under: skiing and riding, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Colorado snow, Colorado snowpack, Colorado storm totals, Copper Mountain, Schofield Pass, skiing and riding, SNOTEL, Summit County News, United States