Colorado Rocky Mountains on June 15th:

Colorado Rocky Mountains on June 10th:

NOAA is backing CBS in saying today that half of Colorado’s mountain snow has melted away in the past 5 days. 

“In the past five days, more than half of our mountain snow has melted at higher elevations.” – CBS on June 14

So much snow has melted so fast that NOAA has issued a flood advisory.

“above average temperatures will lead to continued snowmelt from the high mountains over the next several days. River flows will continue to remain high from the snowmelt and from upstream reservoir releases.” – NOAA today

Colorado is still doing better than average snowpack-wise.

“Warm temperatures across the Front Range have resulted in decreased Rocky Mountain snowpacks and peak water runoff in mountain streams. In fact, according to a 6/14 report from the CBS News affiliate in Denver, “In the past five days, more than half of our mountain snow has melted at higher elevations.”

In addition, the National Weather Service forecast office in Grand Junction has issued a floodadvisory for areas in Colorado and Utah, noting that “above average temperatures will lead to continued snowmelt from the high mountains over the next several days. River flows will continue to remain high from the snowmelt and from upstream reservoir releases.”

The following pair of true-color images from NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP show the effects of the recent high temperatures on Colorado’s snowpack. Although we couldn’t capture a five-day period due to cloud cover, these images from 6/4 (left) and 6/15 (right) provide a clear picture of just how much the amount of snow in the mountains has decreased during this 11-day span.” – NOAA Denver, CO today