Wyoming SnowPack/Water Supply Outlook

Here is the first Wyoming Water Supply Outlook for this Water Year.  Note that the conditions are best in Western Wyoming(Star Valley region), where snowpack is near normal. However the current dry pattern is cutting into the favorable beginning of the Winter Snow Season. 

Initial Wyoming Water Supply Outlook---issued January 15, 2013

...Current water year precipitation is averaging nearly 85 percent of normal across Wyoming…

…Mountain snowpack across Wyoming is 80 to 85 percent of average... 

…Above normal streamflow volumes are expected across northwestern Wyoming watersheds...

…Wyoming reservoir storages are near average for January…

Current water year precipitation across Wyoming is nearly 85 percent of average. Precipitation numbers vary between 117 percent of normal over the Upper Yellowstone Basin to 54 percent of normal over the Belle Fourche Drainage.

Mountain snowpack across Wyoming was 80 to 85 percent of normal by early January.  Snowpack "water" numbers and/or SWEs were the highest across western Wyoming—varying between 100 to 120 percent of normal.  SWEs were the lowest across southeastern Wyoming---varying from 65 to 75 percent of normal.

Above normal (100 to 115 percent) snowmelt streamflow volumes are expected across major basins across northwestern Wyoming---which includes the Upper Yellowstone, the Snake, and the Shoshone Watersheds.

Reservoirs storages across Wyoming are near average for January. 

The latest Wyoming water supply outlook graphic: