After a dry start to the year, the month of March brought much needed moisture to the Aspen region.
The City of Aspen’s Water Department tracks the amount of moisture that falls near town. In March, 2.44 inches accumulated. That’s slightly above the average and much more moisture than in January and February. In January, the total was less than a half inch. When it comes to snowfall, March was slightly below average with a total of nearly 25 inches tracked at the water treatment plant. There were just eight days in the entire month when any snowfall was recorded. In contrast, March had three days where temperatures in Aspen reached or exceeded 60 degrees.
Meanwhile, snowpack levels in the Roaring Fork Watershed are tracking very closely to 2013 levels, the latest significant drought year. The Roaring Fork Conservancy recently reported that the Crystal River headwaters snowpack ranges from 55 percent to 78 percent of normal. The Crystal typically contributes about half of the total flow of the Roaring Fork River.