Colorado water officials are concerned about mountain snowpacks, particularly in the Colorado River drainage, but conditions are more critical in the Four Corners.

In Southwest Colorado, the snow/water equivalent in the existing snowpack was 54 percent of the 30-year median as of Friday. Looking at year-to-date precipitation in the same region – which doesn’t account for snow-water equivalency or melting – that was 67 percent of average as of Friday.

Snow-water equivalency and precipitation in Southwest Colorado are measured in the Animas, San Juan, Dolores and San Miguel basins. Conditions in this area are the most critical in the state this year.

The Colorado statewide snowpack stands at 69 percent of average while the Colorado River basin, which supplies some of the water to lower-basin states, including California, is at 76 percent of average.

Meanwhile, Southwest Colorado’s first dust-on-snow event of the year occurred Wednesday and Thursday when 30 hours of wind from the west-southwest spread dust in Senator Beck Basin near Red Mountain Pass, said Chris Landry, head of the Center for Snow & Avalanche Studies.

A covering of dust is undesirable because the dark coating absorbs heat, causing the snow to melt more quickly.

The wind blew from noon Wednesday to sunset Thursday at an average speed of 23 mph, peaking at 69 mph, Landry said.

It was not a major event, Landry said. He took a half-square-meter sample of dust-covered snow for the U.S. Geological Survey and an equal sample for himself.

daler@ durangoherald.com