Did You Miss It? Spring Runoff 2025
Pagosa Peak on 4/20/25 Spring runoff is underway! Or is it already over? The San Juan River hit a season high of 671 cfs just after...
South San Juans
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Latest posts
How Unusual is a Bare-Ground Winter in Pagosa Springs?
Snow-free low elevation conditions after a dusting on snow on Pagosa Peak on 1/11/25. As our bare-ground winter has persisted in Pagosa...
Predicting the Peak: Spring Runoff 2024!
The 2024 meltdown is well underway! The snowpack at the Upper San Juan Snotel site (USJSS) peaked 3 days early on April 11th with 25.8...
Invitation to my Water Talk: 6 PM on October 5th at the Ruby Sisson Library
When you turn on a faucet in your home, where does the water come from? Since we live in the headwaters of the San Juan River, we can see...
A Tribute to John Fielder (1950 - 2023)
Every kid needs a hero or two and John Fielder, Colorado's premier nature photographer, was one of mine. As a kid, I'd pour over his...
Predicting the Peak: Spring Runoff 2023
As I enter my 25th year of living in the Southern San Juans, I’ve witnessed events this spring that I’ve never seen before! For example,...
Winning Winter: 2019 vs 2023
How does our current snowpack stack up to the epic winter of 2018-2019? In the 23 years that I’ve shoveled snow in Pagosa, I can’t...
Spring Runoff 2022
Spring runoff on the San Juan River started alarmingly fast with an early spike of 1670 cfs on 4/22! Since that spike was higher than...
A Little Dirt Never Hurt...Right?
A classic Colorado childhood isn't complete without snacking on snowballs and catching scrumptious snowflakes on the tongue. One of my...
Signs in the Snow
Like constellations in the night sky, some see shapes in the snow and claim that they can foretell the future. From October till May,...
Predict the Peak: Spring Runoff 2021
It’s time for my annual San Juan River spring runoff prediction! The 2021 water year is half over and spring runoff on the San Juan...
The Sentinel of the San Juans
I stared through The Window, the legendary 600-foot notch in the Rio Grande Pyramid’s southern flank. I’d seen The Window from the...
Hurricanes in Colorado?
On October 5th, 1911, the San Juan River experienced the highest and most devastating flood on record. Since the flood washed out every...
The Highest Point in Archuleta County: A 20-mile Pilgrimage
If you're a local, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen the highest point in Archuleta County but didn’t know it. Unlike the familiar...
Scaling Squaretop Mountain
When I see a conspicuous mountain on the skyline, I crave to view the world from its perspective and long for the awaiting adventure. In...
Streamflow and Precipitation Update: July 2020
It may surprise you to know that the 2020 spring runoff on the San Juan River was a top-five event! While the 2019 spring runoff was the...
2020 Spring Runoff Prediction
Wondering when and how much streamflow to expect in the San Juan River during the 2020 spring runoff? And how will the 2020 spring...
Snowpack Update and Outlook: March 2020
Rather than climbing snowbanks onto the Pagosa Springs High School roof or jumping out of the second-story classroom windows into the...
Current Snowpack Situation
Wondering how the snowpack in the Southern San Juan Mountains stacks up to the last year and the historic norm? January is usually the...
January 2020 Snowpack Update: Southern San Juan Mountains
How does the 2020 snowpack stack up to last year and to the historic norm? Snow-wise, 2019 is a tough act to follow, but I was surprised...