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U.S. NEWSThursday 21 January 2016
Mountain snows that feed Colorado River look good so far
DAN ELLIOTT A sign marks the Colorado River as it flows past the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain snow has fallen by then,
Associated Press National Park near the town of Grand Lake, Colo. Snowpack in the mountains and valleys that and the runoff has begun.
DENVER (AP) — Snowpack feed the upper Colorado River is slightly above the long-term average, which is welcome news As of Wednesday, the ac-
in the mountains that feed in the drought-stricken Southwest. cumulated snowfall was
the Colorado River was 104 percent of normal in
slightly above the long- (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) the Upper Colorado River
term average on Wednes- Basin, which includes the
day — welcome news in 580-foot-high Glen Canyon the future because of pro- multiple dry years. western half of Colorado,
the drought-stricken South- Dam, has a key role in reg- tracted drought, climate April is the key time for pre- the eastern half of Utah
west. ulating and distributing the change and unrealistic es- dicting how much water and smaller portions of Wy-
But water and weather river. timates about how much will flow into the lake from oming, New Mexico and
experts said it’s too early Some people worry there water was available in the the annual spring snowmelt Arizona.
to predict how deep the won’t be enough water in first place. Lake Powell is in the Rocky Mountains, The river begins near the
snow will get or how much the river to go around in only about half full after Watt said. The bulk of the Continental Divide in Colo-
of it will make its way into rado, inside Rocky Moun-
the river and on to Lake tain National Park.
Powell in Utah and Arizona, Most forecasts call for av-
one of two major reservoirs erage or above-average
on the Colorado. water flow in the upper
“We are cautiously optimis- Colorado River and other
tic, but nature has a way of waterways in the state,
doing what it wants,” said Colorado state climatolo-
Chris Watt, a spokesman gist Nolan Doesken said,
for the federal Bureau of but the snow season is
Reclamation, which man- only about half over and
ages the water in Lake the picture could change
Powell. quickly.
The Colorado River serves “We haven’t gotten so
about 40 million people much snow that we’re as-
and 6,300 square miles of sured of an average or
farmland in Arizona, Cali- above-average runoff,”
fornia, Colorado, Nevada, Doesken said. “It could turn
New Mexico, Utah and on us.”The El Nino weather
Wyoming. Mexico is also pattern is likely a factor in
entitled to a share of the the healthy snowpack so
water. far this winter, Doesken
Lake Powell, behind the said. “There’s clearly been
a much better flow of Pa-
Emergency planners plan for ‘Big One’ earthquake cific moisture this year than
in the last few (years) in
TERRENCE PETTY gravity of the disaster: more sponse to any natural disas- sasters in recent U.S. history. terms of the midwinter time
Associated Press than 14,000 people dead ter that has occurred thus Since 2013, Braun has led a period, and that’s sort of
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) in the worst-case scenarios, far in the U.S. That includes team at work on putting to- consistent with El Nino,” he
— Seismologists say a full 30,000 injured, thousands waves of cargo planes, he- gether a military response said.
rupture of an offshore fault left homeless and the re- licopters and ships, as well plan for Washington state. Most of Colorado’s east-
running from Northern Cali- gion’s economy setback as tens of thousands of sol- Worst-case scenarios show facing mountain slopes,
fornia to Canada’s British for years, if not decades. diers, emergency officials, that more than 1,000 bridg- which feed the Platte and
Columbia and an ensuing A magnitude 9.0 earth- mortuary teams, police offi- es in Oregon and Washing- Arkansas rivers as well as
tsunami could come in our quake and tsunami that cers, firefighters, engineers, ton state could either col- the Rio Grande, ranged
lifetimes, and emergen- devastated parts of Ja- medical personnel and lapse or be rendered unus- from 98 to 112 percent of
cy management officials pan in 2011 gave greater other specialists. able. the long-term average.
are busy preparing for the clarity to what the Pacific “The response will be orders Seattle, Portland and
worst. Federal, state and Northwest needs to do to of magnitude larger than other urban areas could
military officials have been improve its readiness for a Hurricane Katrina or Super suffer considerable dam-
drafting response plans similar catastrophe. Storm Sandy,” said Lt. Col. age, such as the collapse
for the “Big One” along Planners envision a deploy- Clayton Braun of the Wash- of structures built before
the Cascadia Subduction ment of civilian and military ington State Army National codes were updated to
Zone.The plans reflect deep personnel and equipment Guard, referring to two of take into account a mega-
anxiety about the potential that would eclipse the re- the best-known natural di- quake.
