Last week, the Wet Mountain Valley lived up to its name as days of rain and wet snow descended upon parched hillsides and alpine meadows. However, the nearly two inches of water equivalence was not enough to bring the region out of the persistent drought. It is a reminder of how historically dry this past winter truly was.
According to a report released by the U.S. Drought Monitor last Thursday, May 8, all of Custer County and most of Fremont County were considered to be in a severe to moderate drought. These reports do not just look at the current soil moisÂture readings but also calcuÂlate how far from average the water equivalence is for the region. While two inches of water is significant, the Valley missed most of the regular snowfall it usually receives in March and April. These snowfalls are critical to a substantial snowpack that usually melts slowly until the end of June.
The SNOWTEL station, which is located high in the Sangre de Cristo MounÂtains, showed last week that 2.2 inches of water equivÂalence of snow fell. HowÂever, that only partially relieved a snowpack that is generally at 19 inches. This represents a snowpack that is roughly 75% of what it normally should be over the last 34 years.
The levels are so low, in fact, that the snowpack has been skirting the record low set in the dreadful 2002 drought. While the storm last week has kept the Valley out of record low territory, the lack of snowpack is a worry to ranchers.
Due to the dry situaÂtion, Custer County remains under a Stage One fire ban. The forecast for the foreseeÂable future is dry and windy, which will rapidly remove the water from the soil, creÂating a high fire danger.
The only spot of good news is that the long-range forecast for the next two months shows a higher than normal chance of moisture to fall on the region.
â Jordan Hedberg
