As of Monday, Colorado’s snowpack numbers were nearly off the charts. Statewide snowpack levels were at 539 percent of their season-to-date average, and about 23 times higher than where they were at this time a year ago.

After a tough few winters, there’s little doubt that this winter has featured a remarkable turnaround for Colorado and the West. In particular, the southwestern portion of the state is running more than 10 times above the season-to-date average, and every mountain basin in the state is more than twice its typical early June snowpack levels.

We’ve made a big deal about these statistics, and snowpack is unquestionably far higher than where it normally is for the beginning of June. But, these numbers – while true, of course – might be a bit misleading and worth an extra note of clarification. On Friday, the Colorado Climate Center sent a series of tweets to help explain the significance behind some of the snowpack data figures that have garnered so much attention.

Why are these numbers so huge?? A quick cautionary tale on looking at % of average snowpack during the snowmelt season… After peak snowpack (aka SWE), the snowpack at our SNOTEL sites typically begins a pretty rapid melt off. A lot can change from one day to the next. pic.twitter.com/l2EW0rlMos — ColoClimateCenter (@ColoradoClimate) May 30, 2019

So essentially, it’s the slow start to the melting season – fueled by cold late spring temperatures and, yes, some bouts of late May snow – that’s keeping Colorado’s snowpack so ridiculously high.

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In short, this means the amount of snowpack and water is largely the same, but the ridiculously high snowpack figures basically mean that snow will linger deep into the summer season. It doesn’t, for example, mean that Colorado’s winter snowfall was five, 10 or even 20 times above average.

The Colorado Climate Center said the number that truly matters, at least in terms of water availability and other key factors, is the number at peak season.

At its peak in early April, though, Colorado’s snowpack was above average – but ‘only’ by about 125 percent, based on data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Colorado. This helped end Colorado’s 21-month drought and will help replenish beleaguered reservoirs, but it wasn’t as big as perhaps some of the current snowpack data might lead one to conclude.

How snow melts and the rate of snowmelt can be important indicators to keep an eye on. In terms of total snowpack and water availability, it's more useful to know what happened at peak snowpack – which was good for us this year! pic.twitter.com/rbyzkrsGKk — ColoClimateCenter (@ColoradoClimate) May 30, 2019

Colorado experienced a huge winter. It’s been a chilly and even snowy spring as well. But when you see some of these snowpack numbers, consider the fact that snowpack data is a date-to-date comparison (June 3, 2018 to June 3, 2019, for example), rather than a commentary on the winter as a whole.