Quick report
- Dust from previous events is a significant player in the early melt-down this spring.
- The dust melted through the shallow new snow already in most mid elevation terrain and the snow surface is rough and mottled.
- With all the dust and a snowpack with well below average SWE, Beaver Creek is melting out a few weeks earlier this spring than it did last spring.
Despite last week's heat and the melting of lots of snow, the water levels are not rising much at all yet in the rivers. It seems the ground and vegetation is so dry, the runoff is just being sucked up before it can even make it to the rivers...
The mountains of the Wellsville Mountain Wilderness reflected in the Little Bear River, 3-7-2021.
Snowpack
Whiter new snow from earlier in the week with dusty snow under it showing through. The new snow whitened things up up high, slowing the melt-down for a little while The dust is pretty bad this spring and the snow is rough and melting fast.