{"id":15354,"date":"2019-05-21T21:40:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T03:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/amid-still-mounting-snowpack-cooler-temperatures-help-ease-flooding-concerns-for-the-time-being\/"},"modified":"2019-05-22T07:37:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T13:37:11","slug":"amid-still-mounting-snowpack-cooler-temperatures-help-ease-flooding-concerns-for-the-time-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/amid-still-mounting-snowpack-cooler-temperatures-help-ease-flooding-concerns-for-the-time-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid still-mounting snowpack, cooler temperatures help ease flooding concerns \u2014 for the time being"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Colorado River roars past the Glenwood Whitewater Park in West Glenwood on Tuesday afternoon.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite recent precipitation adding to an above average snowpack, local meteorologists and conservationists do not anticipate any flooding for the next few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest issue will be if we get a big warm up \u2014 if we suddenly come out of this cool pattern and we get really hot and dry,\u201d National Weather Service Meteorologist Ben Moyer said. \u201cThen everything melts really quickly and flows into the river channels and there is just too much to handle.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, Moyer did not foresee any risk of flooding in the coming weeks as cooler than normal temperatures remain in the forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is going to help keep things calm,\u201d Moyer explained.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe biggest issue will be if we get a big warm up. If we suddenly come out of this cool pattern and we get really hot and dry. Then everything melts really quickly and flows into the river channels and there is just too much to handle.\u201d-Ben Moyer, National Weather Service Meteorologist<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

As of late Tuesday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) agency, the Roaring Fork River in Glenwood Springs had a volumetric flow rate of 1,860 cubic feet per second.<\/p>\n

The Colorado River near the confluence had a volumetric flow rate of 5,910 cubic feet per second. The flooding concern comes when those flow volumes start to approach 15,000 cfs or more.<\/p>\n

As of now, though, both rivers\u2019 flow rates were measuring below average for this date in Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the next few weeks we are expecting below normal temperatures and continued chances of higher than normal precipitation,\u201d Moyer said. \u201cSince the temperatures aren\u2019t getting too warm, and in fact they are staying pretty close to freezing up where the snow is right now, then not much will be coming off and flowing into the river channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

District Conservationist Stephen Jaouen with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) said that, even with 2019\u2019s above average snowpack, the Upper Colorado River Basin had yet to reach any of its \u201cmaximums.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not at anything beyond what we\u2019ve seen in the last 30 years, but we are still above normal,\u201d Jaouen said of the basin. \u201cThe Roaring Fork Basin itself is a little bit higher than [the Upper Colorado River Basin], but it\u2019s still not touching maximums in the last 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Jaouen explained how many reservoirs were still recovering and refilling after last year\u2019s dismal snowpack and multiple years of drought conditions.<\/p>\n

According to Jaouen, Ruedi Reservoir in March was the lowest it had been in a decade.<\/p>\n

Although cooler temperatures were helping facilitate slower runoffs, Jaouen and Moyer explained how conditions always had the ability to change quick, particularly in the high country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBear in mind \u2026 we are moving into the peak of the snowmelt season, so yes rivers will be running higher than normal,\u201d Moyer said. \u201cAnd, whether or not there is actually going to be flooding will be dependent on exactly how warm we get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basalt, facing a different scenario in the wake of last year\u2019s Lake Christine Fire, will continue to roll out further public information concerning mud and debris flow potential from the historic fire\u2019s scar area.<\/p>\n

Taking no chances, the city of Glenwood Springs has stocked up on sandbags should any flooding situations arise farther down valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot knowing what the local retail market might have available in the way of sandbags, I requested that the city stock up on some sandbags to have available,\u201d Glenwood Springs Fire Chief Gary Tillotson said.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite recent precipitation adding to an above average snowpack, local meteorologists and conservationists do not anticipate any flooding for the next few days. \u201cThe biggest issue will be if we get a big warm up \u2014 if we suddenly come out of this cool pattern and we get really hot and dry,\u201d National Weather Service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 22:47:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15357,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15354\/revisions\/15357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}