COLORADO, USA — Colorado entered March with more than half the state in some level of drought -- by the first week of April, only 5 percent remained.
That's a huge change in just one month, and that changes the outlook for wildfire danger and reservoir storage.
March featured big snow storms with big totals and very high water content. The Colorado Climate Center posted a map showing many areas of the state with record-breaking moisture in March.
Some of that was rain, some of it was snow that already melted, but most of it is stored in the mountains as snowpack. It’s that big snowpack that changes the outlooks for both reservoir storage and wildfire danger.
WILDFIRE
Historically, the states worst wildfire seasons follow winters with low snowpack. Colorado is at 31 percent above average as of Thursday with just three days left until the average peak of snowpack building. This doesn’t guarantee low fire danger, but it reduces the risk of large forest fires greatly.
Thick and deep snowpack takes longer to melt. This year, moisture is expected to be continually supplied to ground fuels and trees well into the summer months.
BRUSH FIRES
Low elevation wildfire and urban brush fires are different. Spring moisture and ample runoff usually grows the ground fuels thick and tall, which can dry out in the summer raising fire danger.
Colorado is famous for days with strong winds and low humidity. Southeast Colorado was under a Fire Weather Warning at the time of this posting on Friday.
RESERVOIRS
The outlook for water storage in our reservoirs has changed as well. Instead of really dry ground soaking up the snow melt before it reaches the reservoirs, more of that water can now reach the lakes with the recent increase in soil moisture.
The Colorado Climate Center said there is a good chance most of the Front Range reservoirs like Lake Dillon fill to normal levels by summer.
Some of the reservoirs to the west, like the states largest, Blue Mesa reservoir, hit record low levels going into the winter, so they might not be able to fill all the way up, but will see drastic improvements.
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