CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A succession of spring snowstorms over the last two months has boosted Wyoming’s snowpack to slightly above normal as the state heads into its annual snowmelt cycle.
The statewide snowpack this week measured 102 percent of median, according to Lee Hackleman, water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. In mid-April, the snowpack was at 84 percent statewide.
“We might have been around average way back last fall, but this year I don’t think we have been since January anyway,” Hackleman said Tuesday.
Generally, the snowpack right now is greatest in central and southern Wyoming while the northwest part of the state has the lowest remaining snowpack.
Hackleman said the eastern and southern halves of Wyoming have received the most precipitation this spring, mainly because of storm systems moving slowly through the region.
While Wyoming typically receives its greatest snowfalls during spring, Hackleman said the state usually doesn’t see this many.
Hydrologist Jim Fahey of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Riverton said another system is expected this weekend to bring up to 2 inches of rain to lower elevations in Fremont and Natrona counties and more snow for the mountains.
“It’s a warmer system coming through than we’ve had the last three or four weeks,” Fahey said. “Snow levels can still be kind of tricky because we’re still in early May.”
The new rain and snow comes at a time when some snowmelt is expected to start this week at lower elevations.
“The main concern for this event I think will be the smaller creeks and streams in the basins,” Fahey said. “We’ll see some rises in the big streams and big rivers, like the North Platte and the Wind and the Little Wind, but mainly this weekend the small streams and creeks could fill up with some rainfall runoff and low level snowmelt runoff,” he said.
Fahey said the main snowmelt and runoff that affects the big river watersheds in the state usually begins around Memorial Day and lasts into June.
The current runoff forecast predicts the Laramie River watershed in southeast Wyoming has the highest potential for spring flooding, while there is a moderate to high potential along the North Platte, especially around Saratoga, he said.
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