GLENWOOD WAVE

Glenwood Whitewater Park

Take a look at CBRFC Colorado at Glenwood

This is an interactive tool that combines flow gage data with snow data and weather forecasts to predict flood levels. Look at the interactive options such as comparing to previous years and looking further into the future.

To get another site start at: CBRFC All Sites

The NRCS monitors snow pack in the arid West for water content, or snow water equivalent (SWE). They basically have gages that weigh the snow all over the mountains. The update graphs <NRCS National Water and Climate Center - SNOTEL Data Network - SNOTEL Data - All Sensors - SWE Update Graph> are interesting summaries of the basin wide snow pack. This gives a good idea if it will be a good runoff year. However, the data are also interesting because they are comparisons of snow pack for a specific date. So as this cold April weather continues, and runoff is held back longer and longer, the percentage of SWE in late April and May might increase, compared to other years when runoff started earlier.

You can also look up the specific gages, if you know which one is in your faviorite basin <SNOTEL Maps>. Once you know your gage, you can look up the specific graph and get an idea of not only how much water there is, but also if the peak flows will be higher than normal because the melt is later than usual <NWCC - SNOTEL Water Year Graph (SWE and Precipitation)>. Generally the later the melt starts past the average peak, the steeper the runoff curve is on the backside, resulting in higher peak flows.