Colorado and the West is running out of water . . . (Denver: malls, richest)

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Jazzlover is alive and well, just not in Colorado.

Congratulations! You finally joined the ranks of freedom-loving Americans who exercise their legally-protected right of free movement between states. Ain't the USA grand! Definitely not Soviet Russia here, where folks looking to move had to get permission from the government and/or disgruntled locals to go from one place to another. Hooray for American freedom! I'm in a bit of a patriotic frenzy here. What a great country this is, where each person has a right to determine their own best place and can't be dictated to by others who would oppress them! USA! USA!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

Congratulations! You finally joined the ranks of freedom-loving Americans who exercise their legally-protected right of free movement between states. Ain't the USA grand! Definitely not Soviet Russia here, where folks looking to move had to get permission from the government and/or disgruntled locals to go from one place to another. Hooray for American freedom! I'm in a bit of a patriotic frenzy here. What a great country this is, where each person has a right to determine their own best place and can't be dictated to by others who would oppress them! USA! USA!

Awaiting the judges score for smdensbcs ... LOOK! The judges are all giving him a TEN, a perfect score for the USA guy! Perfect score, including the all important style points.... It's always an Olympics...somewhere...

[GStone777]

Originally Posted by gn3

Are you going to share your new state of residence, Jazzlover?

I have a hunch Jazz is in Arizona maybe somewhere along the Muggy-Own, (Mogollon), Rim.

[Colorado Rambler]

I'm putting my money on Nebraska. Too bad we can't have a contest to see who figures it out first, but we have to respect jazzlover's request for privacy.

@smdensbcs: Goodness! You should come down here to the Four Corners where you can actually be in 4 states at the same time. You'd be in a patriotic frenzy every moment.

This is also a great area in which to evade local law enforcement. Trouble with the State Patrol? Just hop on over to another state with a ten minute drive. Plus, there's always the Navajo Nation when all else fails. Catch me if you can!

[Umbria]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

No.

But - I have a brand new batch of lutefisk for you - where should I send it?

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by GStone777

I have a hunch Jazz is in Arizona maybe somewhere along the Muggy-Own, (Mogollon), Rim.

Hadn't seen much of that until a few weeks ago when I drove most of the length of it. I was pretty impressed and it would be a decent alternative for many who want warmer weather in winter compared to the mountains of Colorado. I'll have to spend some more time there.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

Hadn't seen much of that until a few weeks ago when I drove most of the length of it. I was pretty impressed and it would be a decent alternative for many who want warmer weather in winter compared to the mountains of Colorado. I'll have to spend some more time there.

Meh, why go to the warmer weather when it will come to you instead? I figure that in another 5 - 10 years Colorado winter temps will be about what they are on the Mogollon Rim now. I do like that area, though - very impressive. But I'm going to stay in Colorado and see as much of the places I love as possible. It's spooky to think about what the current warming trend may do to the old Colorado that we all love and know so well. The Colorado of the future may be a very different place, indeed.

[Idunn]

"Drought conditions in most of Larimer, Boulder and western Weld counties and southern Laramie County, Wyo., are being downgraded from “moderate” drought conditions to merely abnormally dry." [1]

This may be what Jazzlover would refer to as an alleviation of an agricultural versus hydrological drought. Some may not make that distinction, or believe we are out of the woods, when not.

I'm mentioning this in part because surely wrong. No doubt the several major snows of April really helped in northern Colorado. But this article mentions the Colorado River Basin as being at 104% of normal, and the South Platte River Basin at 105%. From what I'm seeing, that is rather hard to believe.

The current snowpack of the Upper Colorado Basin is 60.54% or normal.[2] When this article was published on May 8, it was at about 80%.

Those are stats. From what I personally observed a few days ago, neither the Big Thompson or Fall rivers were at peak volume yet, or at least historical highs. Nor would one normally expect them to be this early in the season. And with the amount of April snow rapidly melting, perhaps on May 8 they were running above normal for that date. But I'm watching another tributary within the South Platte River Basin, and although it came up fast it appears to possibly have already peaked some three weeks before normal, and at a lower than normal volume. That is still to be determined. But seems likely. Which would indicate to me—if transpiring as such—that for the year the South Platte River Basin will be running a deficit and below normal volume, not above.

At the moment the grass is green and the land seems relatively normal for spring, and if not moist then far from the tender-dry it might have been. But that would be a lessoning of the agricultural drought in this region. The hydrological may be another matter altogether.

1) 'Snow, rain beat Fort Collins drought into remission,' The Coloradoan
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20...into-remission

2) 'Upper Colorado Water Basin Snowpack,' snowpack.water-data.com
Upper Colorado River Snowpack Database

[Josseppie]

This is not really a surprise but once again the Pueblo Board of Water Works has said there will be no water restrictions for Pueblo this summer. That is good because of the heat and dry weather I am having to water my lawn once a day already.

This is from the Pueblo Chieftain:

Pueblo is swimming against the tide in the current drought.

No outdoor watering restrictions are planned because demand is decreased and snowpack improving to the point where the Pueblo Board of Water Works does not see its water rights being curtailed this year. Many large water providers already have limited outdoor watering to 2 days per week. Pueblo continues to resist the trend. “Other Front Range cities rely on imported water, but our direct flow rights provide 90 percent of the water we use,” Executive Director Terry Book told the board Tuesday.

The link: No water limits planned for Pueblo - Pueblo Chieftain: Southern Colorado Water

[Colorado Rambler]

It's ironic that residents of one of the Front Range's major cities can continue to dump precious water on a thirsty grass that has no business being babied along in Western towns and cities west of the 100th meridian. Blue grass should be treated as a pernicious, invasive species along the lines of the tamarisk.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (literally) farmers and ranchers are bracing for yet another year of record drought and an uncertain future. From the Cortez Herald:

ALTHOUGH THE RUNOFF season technically has begun, the Dolores River near Hillside Drive was low and crystal clear this weekend.

But revised runoff forecasts and precipitation reports are predicting a situation for farmers and local fish populations that just keeps getting worse.

Updated reports from the Dolores Water Conservancy District estimate that inflow, or runoff from April to July, into McPhee Reservoir will be 125,000 acre feet this year if current conditions continue. As of Monday, the active storage was 37,170 acre-feet, which is 16 percent of active capacity.

That means full-service irrigators in the Yellow Jacket and Dove Creek areas will receive just 42 percent of their full allocation, or about 10.3 inches per acre.

Holders of senior Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company rights will fare better, with reports predicting they will receive 80 percent to 87 percent of full supply.

Since Feb. 1, inflow forecasts for the Dolores River have been revised downward by 80,000 acre-feet because of a spring season defined by diminishing snowpack and dry soils, said Mike Preston, general manager of the water conservancy district.

Current snowpack in the Dolores River basin is 66 percent of average for this time of year, Preston said.

The updated predictions mean that farmers like Larry Deremo, who farms south of Dove Creek, will likely only get one cutting of hay this year.

"We're going to run out of water in the middle of summer. There's no doubt about it," said Deremo, who is a full-service irrigator and a member of the Dolores Water Conservancy District's board of directors.

Preston confirmed that if current weather conditions continue, irrigation water from the reservoir will only flow until August or September.

(emphasis my own)

Ny heart goes out to those still trying to run the family ranch or farm. Dove Creek where most of the crops around here are grown, currently has an unemployment rate of 16%

On another note, the Forest Service in the Durango area has already gotten 28 reports of fires, and it's not even June yet.