This page in our free multimedia library features aerial photos of the snowpack in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado.
The San Juans are mostly located in southwest Colorado but also extend into northern New Mexico. The snowpack in the San Juans feeds both the Colorado River and the Rio Grande (the photos in this collection depict the eastern portion of the range and are part of the Colorado River Basin).
When these photos were captured in May 2023, the San Juans were coming off a very wet winter that generated a snowpack well above the long-term average.
Some of the photos in this collection show considerable dust on top of the snowpack near Telluride. This darkening of the snow surface causes it to absorb more solar radiation and accelerates the melting of the snowpack.
To learn more about how dust affects the snowpack and water supply, see these stories from our bibliography of great snow journalism:
The Rocky Mountains Are Dusty, And It’s A Problem. By Luke Runyon, KUNC, 4/17/2018.
Dust blowing off the shrinking Great Salt Lake is eroding Wasatch snowpack and that could eventually threaten drinking water. By Brian Maffly, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12/22/2018.
Can the next generation of scientists help solve our dust on snow problem? By Aedan Hannon, The Durango Herald, 4/17/2022.
Colorado’s above-average snowpack has an enemy: Dust. By Tracy Ross, The Colorado Sun, 5/18/2023.
| Date | May 26, 2023 |
| Location | Southwest Colorado |
| Credit | Mitch Tobin/The Water Desk with aerial support by LightHawk |
| Rights | Free to reuse under Creative Commons license. |
Selected images from the gallery
Click to enlarge
Aerial view of Electra Lake and the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of Electra Lake and the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of Telluride, Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of Telluride and the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of Telluride and the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of Rico, Colorado. Photo taken on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
Aerial view of La Plata Mountains near Durango, Colorado, on May 26, 2023. Thanks to lighthawk.org for the aerial support. ©Mitch Tobin Usage rights are granted for editorial and nonprofit purposes only. No commercial or re-sale rights are granted without permission of the photographer. https://waterdesk.org/multimedia/license/
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