Greetings from Silverton,
There is still patchy snow around SASP, northerly aspects are still holding onto snow, but on June 9 snow was all gone under the snow depth sensor at SASP. Red Mountain SNOTEL still shows 2.2" of SWE remaining. With a day here and there of overcast conditions (June 3 & 7) seems to have taken the edge off the potential higher peak discharge rates at SBB that we saw last year. And, yesterday, between 6am-11am average hourly flows were 14.6 cfs, and today they are 13.7 cfs. So as of right now we are on track for less average daily Q than yesterday.
I am guess-timating SWE at SBSP right now is around 12". The snow sensor is showing 16" snow depth, but our study plot is more likely around 32" of snow depth. There is less snow this year than at this time last year at SBSP - going by sensor snow depth data. But, even so there is still a good amount of snow at higher elevations, I went on a hike above treeline over the weekend and appears there is decent snowcover and large snowfields above treeline.
The tight gradient ahead of the approaching cold front is bringing windy conditions to eastern Utah, northern Arizona, and western Colorado. Some desert webcams are showing hazy/dusty conditions indicating we might see some dust with this wind. Fortunately, with the bulk of snowmelt behind us it will not be much of a factor as far as influencing snowmelt should we see it deposited in the mountains. It might be slightly cooler today and over the next couple days, but it will remain warm and there is no stormy or overcast conditions in the forecast.
I used last year as a comparison since conditions around this time last year are (were) somewhat similar to this year. In terms of dust severity, last year was considered average, and this year it was also average, but more on the lighter side of average. Around Swamp Angel snow is nearing all gone. A couple days of rainy/overcast conditions tapped the breaks on snowmelt at SBB (combined with less radiative forcing), avoiding the peak discharge that we observed last year.
With no snow under the snow depth sensor (and solar array) at SASP, albedo data for SASP ends on June 9.
Going by the snow depth sensor (point measurement), there was more snow going into melt last year than this year at SBSP, and the result was the hydrograph you see above in the first image. But as mentioned, this is just one point in space in highly wind effected terrain, looking at the landscape there is still a decent amount of snow at elevation.
The precipitation outlook appears dry for the Colorado high country.
And warm!
More soon,
Jeff Derry