Greetings from Silverton.
CSAS was on the road over this past weekend for our second CODOS tour of the season. We will be releasing a full report on this data collection trip in the next couple days, but for the time being we have received another dust event at our Senator Beck Basin Study Area in the San Juan Mountains.
Our fourth dust event of the year was a moderate dry event, lasting approximately 21 hours. The majority of the dust was likely deposited toward the end of this period. Currently dust is most apparent on North and East facing slopes in leeward areas where air tends to recirculate when wind blows over the landscape. The dust is also highly visible in other small surface features such as old ski tracks and tree wells.
Unfortunately this recent CODOS tour ended around when the dust arrived, so we were unable to capture its deposition statewide. However, it was first observed at our Grand Mesa Study Plot on Sunday afternoon (April 9th), so the impact of this event is known to stretch further than just the San Juans.
Look for more information on dust, snowpack, streams and spring outlooks in our upcoming CODOS tour report, which will be sent out in the next couple days.
More from Silverton soon.