Snowpack deepens across Colorado, but southwest struggles

A big spring storm boosted the overall snowpack across Colorado 10 percent between last Thursday and Monday, but some areas of the state fared better than others: The South Platte Basin in the north saw 2.5 inches of snow water equivalent, while the combined basins in the southwest corner of the state saw a just few tenths of an inch.

The snowpack translates into water available for industry, agriculture and residential consumption, and levels are at 62 percent of normal.  “We would have hoped that a storm like that would have helped out a lot more, providing say an inch or two of precipitation,” said Brian Demonkos, a hydrologist with the Colorado Snow Survey Program.