This chart shows daily, year-to-date, and rolling 15/30 day average temperature for various water years across the Upper Colorado River Basin watershed: the mountain headwaters and upland areas that ultimately feed the Colorado River and its major tributaries above Lake Powell. The values are expressed as basin-average temperature, which makes them useful for comparing how warm or cool a water year is at any point in the season.
How To Use This Chart
Average temperature by water year
The upper chart shows average temperature for each WATER YEAR. Depending on the selected metric, the value at any point is either the daily basin-average temperature, a rolling average, or the year-to-date average for that water year.
Water-year day comparison
Hover over any water-year day in the upper chart to inspect that point in the season. The readouts update for the hovered day, and the lower chart updates with the value for each water year on that same day.
Controls
Use the controls above the chart to switch units, move between daily and averaged temperature metrics, and toggle between radial and linear layouts. Use the series controls to highlight years, compare the current year with close water-year analogs, or hide inactive series.
Upper Colorado River Basin - Average Temperature
Water-Year Average Temperature: One row per water year, positioned by annual average temperature and colored from earlier to more recent years.
Slope note: the slope readout shows between-year change in the selected rolling window at the hovered water-year day, not day-to-day temperature change.
Data Source
The data for this chart1SNOTEL Upper Colorado River Basin - Daily Average Temperature Data1 is sourced from SNOTEL, an automated system of snowpack and related climate sensors operated by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture in the Western United States, and published by the National Water and Climate Center2National Water and Climate Center Snow and Climate Monitoring2.
Inspiration
Radial chart inspiration: NASA SVS 5190.
- 1
SNOTEL Upper Colorado River Basin - Daily Average Temperature Data - https://nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdb/basin-plots/POR/TAVG/assocHUC2/14_Upper_Colorado_Region.html ↩︎
- 2
National Water and Climate Center - Snow and Climate Monitoring - https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/data-and-reports/snow-and-climate-monitoring-predefined-reports-and-maps ↩︎