Snow on the mountains means good news for farmers

The mountain ranges near Pueblo County have received two weeks’ worth of heavy snow. With all that powder on the mountains, farmers in the Lower Arkansas River Valley are set to benefit.

The National Weather Service in Pueblo said before Feb. 19, the snowpack level in the Arkansas Basin was at 89 percent, which is 11 percent below the average. As of March 5, that number went up to 104 percent, which is slightly above the average.

The NWS said it isn’t going to solve the drought problem, but it is a start. If the snowstorm didn’t happen, the snowpack could have gone lower than 89 percent.

Judy Mauro works on Mauro Farms. She said her whole family keeps a close eye on the mountains.

“It is very important. That’s where we get our water from. (My family) likes their water in the ditch where they can control it. Without the water, we wouldn’t have a farm,” she said.

The Sangre De Cristo and Wet Mountain ranges, along with the Collegiate Peaks, feed into the Arkansas River.