Summit County Citizens Voice

January snowfall above average in Breckenridge

Statewide snowpack is at 72 percent of average.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Winter gained a bit of traction in January, as snowfall was above average for the first time this season, by about 20 percent. At his official National Weather Service observation site in Breckenridge, Rick Bly measured 27. 4 inches of snow, against the average 22.4 inches.

Above average snowfall from late December 2011 to late January 2012 was confined to a tiny bullseye around Summit, Lake, and parts of Eagle and Pitkin counties.

For the weather year-to-date (starting Oct. 1), Bly has tallied 62.2 inches, compared to the long-term average of 78 inches.

Those totals may be somewhat skewed by strong winds that probably re-arranged some of the snow around his gage, Bly said, explaining that the year-to-date precipitation total (the snow-water equivalent of rain and melted snow combined) is only slightly below normal, at 5.36 inches, compared to the average 5.81 inches. That suggests that the wind may have blown away some of the snow accumulations before Bly had a chance to measure them.

Despite a near-record dry December, the winter so far is nowhere near the driest years on record. For the season, snowfall has already surpassed one agonizing recent dry year; 1980-1980, when only about 50 inches fell between October and May.

For now, this winter is tracking on par with 2001-2002, which ended up being an infamous drought year, when 60 inches of snow accumulated from October to January.

It’s been warm and dry across the country, with snow covering only about 19 percent of the lower 48 states, as compared to 52 percent this time last year.

The extent of the snowcover last year on Feb. 1 was near record high levels.

This year's snowcover extent is near record low levels across the lower 48 states.

Looking ahead, February brings, on average, 21 inches of snow to the valley elevation of Breckenridge (mountain snowfall is an entirely different thing). The snowiest year on record was 1893, with 84.5 inches. The driest February on record was 1982, with just 2.1 inches.

In Dillon, where Denver Water measures snow and temps for the National Weather Service, snowfall was very close to average for January, with 18.5 inches (average is 18.4 inches.

But daily high temperatures at the Dillon site were well above average for the month, averaging out to 35,5 degrees. The long-term average daily high is below freezing, at 31.2 degrees. The daily average low temperature, however, was 3 degrees above average, at 2 degrees, compared to minus 1 degrees.

None of Colorado’s major river basins are above average for the year-to-date, and it would take exceptional snowfall for the next three months to get back to average.

It’s a similar scenario across the West, where only a few spots are reporting average to above-average snowpack, while widespread areas are at 25 percent to 75 percent of average.

Western snowpack is not in good shape going into February.

This year’s snowpack for the year-to-date (thick black line) in the Colorado River Basin is tracking near the record low, shown by the green line, and is right on par with the snowpack in 2002, a year that went into the books as one of the worst droughts on record.

You can make your own line graph, choosing memorable years for comparison, at the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Colorado Snow website.

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Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, La Niña, seasons, Snow and weather, Summit County snow and weather Tagged: | Breckenridge snowfall, Colorado, January 2011 weather statistics, snowpack, Summit County snowfall, weather