Snowpack Usually Feeds River
The Rio Grande is usually fed by snowpack in southern Colorado, which melts into the river’s upper basin. “That gives you a steady source of water down the Rio Grande into Elephant Butte as it melts through the spring and summer,” said Tom Bird, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in El Paso. “The snow will melt the entire warm season and keep flowing down the Rio Grande into those reservoirs.”
