Know Your Watershed: How Flooding and Landslides Affect Streamflow

historic flood in Ouray, photo courtesy of Denver Public Library

Streamflow is the volume of water flowing past a certain point on a waterway at any given time of day. Heavy rains and snowmelt can produce runoff at a rate that exceeds the drainage capacity of streams, which results in flooding. Landslides occur as mass movements of soil and rock that are saturated by excess … Read more

Know Your Watershed: Air Temperature and its Impact on Streamflow

Precipitation in the form of snowfall plays the dominant role in year-to-year streamflow variability in the Uncompahgre River Watershed, but air temperature also has a significant impact. In the spring, the air temperature rises, snowmelt begins, and streamflow increases. This generally begins when nighttime temperatures stay at or above freezing (see blue line in the … Read more

Know Your Watershed: Cumulative Precipitation & Streamflow

We’re on track to have a banner year when it comes to rain and snow. While we don’t know how much has fallen on each and every acre, we have a good idea of the big picture from cumulative precipitation  (aka accumulated inches of water from rain and snow in any one spot over a given period of time). This is measured at weather … Read more

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