Low snowpack, high temps portend early runoff, low summer flows

Snowpack measured 79% of the state’s average median at the beginning of March, while much of the state recorded warmer-than-usual winter temperatures despite a few record one-day lows. Forecasts for continued warmer temps point toward a possible early runoff season, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data and local meteorologists.

“It’s been a winter of extremes,” Riverton National Weather Service meteorologist Brett McDonald said. “It seems like we get the cold air in and we set some cold temperature records. But then as soon as the cold air goes out we go on the war...