Massive amounts of rust-red colored dust from the deserts of Arizona and Utah were deposited across central and southwestern Colorado last Friday, leaving car windshields caked with mud and, more significantly, mountain snowpack susceptible to faster-than-normal melting.

"It's not unusual to have dust storms," said Doug Crowley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Grand Junction. "But what it comes down to is that this has been an active spring season. Seems like it's been windier than normal."

The vast swaths of desert landscape to the west and southwest of here provides plenty of surface area for a low pressure system to pick up tiny dust particles, suspend them into the atmosphere and transport them to the Colorado high country, Crowley explained.

Friday's event -- which turned skies an eerie shade of red, reduced visibility in some towns to next to nothing and, combined with moisture, in some cases made it literally "raining mud," according to Crowley -- wasn't the first dust storm of the year. But it definitely was the biggest.

Some longtime weather watchers called Friday's dust storm "the worst they'd ever witnessed," according to Chris Landry, who closely monitors "dust on snow" events for the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies in Silverton.

That sentiment was shared locally.

"This is the biggest event of this nature that I have seen in the 20 plus years I have been here," said John Scott of Gunnison's National Resource Conservation Service.

People who were skiing at Crested Butte Mountain Resort over the weekend remarked how their turns left slinky red tracks through the snow.

"It was very red and very dirty," said Gunnison outdoor enthusiast Duane Vandenbusche, who skied the resort Saturday and in the local backcountry Monday. "I've never seen anything like that. I've seen dirt (on the snow), but nothing like that. It was unbelievable."

There was some speculation around the state that the weather event may have been impacted by volcanoes, including one that's been active recently in Alaska. Crowley and Landry dismissed this idea.

"Satellite imagery clearly showed that most of the northeastern corner of Arizona was releasing dust plumes heading northeastward, into Colorado," Landry observed in a report he sends to water watchers, including officials with the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD).

Landry reported that Friday actually marked the eighth significant dust event to occur in Colorado this winter season, noting that there most likely is more on the way. After April is historically when most dust storms occur, he said.

"The major ramification is the timing and intensity of snow melt," Landry explained.

Pure white snow reflects the sun to a much greater extent than dirty snow does. The less reflection, the more solar radiation the snowpack absorbs; thus, the faster it melts.

In 2006, snow melt timing was advanced anywhere from four to six weeks due to large dust storm events then, according to Landry. This year is shaping up to be even dustier.

"We have serious concerns over the effects of last Friday's dust storm," said Frank Kugel, the director of the UGRWCD. "It could have a profound impact on the timing of this year's spring runoff. Early snow melt could result in lower than normal late summer flows and could lead to calls by downstream senior water rights."

The possible good news, according to the NWS' Crowley, is that more strong weather patterns appear to be in western Colorado's future. While this could lead to more dust events, it also should bring at least some precipitation.

"We desperately need the moisture," he said.

 

(Chris Dickey can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or editor@gunnisontimes.com)