Characteristics of Moisture Pathways Associated with Large Precipitation Events in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Declining streamflow in mountain snowpack-sourced basins across the western United States in recent
years has necessitated further investigation into the spatiotemporal trends of snowpack accumulation each season.
Previous studies have shown that substantial proportions of annual precipitation occur during relatively few large
precipitation events (LPEs) and consequently, such events tend to be significant predictors of streamflow for many
basins, including the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) (McCabe, 1996; Werner & Yeager, 2013; Bolinger et al.,
2014). While primary pathways of atmospheric moisture from the Pacific Ocean into the inland interior have been
identified in previous studies (e.g. Rutz et al., 2015), comparatively little analysis has been done to examine the
moisture pathways associated with LPEs at the watershed-level amid the interior west.