A recent study argues for monitoring the West’s snowpack at strategic hotspots rather than mapping entire basins. But the paper has sparked pushback from supporters of airborne snow monitoring. My latest story for The Water Desk unpacks the science and implications: waterdesk.org/2025/12/scie...

❄️ Is it OK to eat snow? 🤖 Can AI improve snowfall forecasts? ⛷️ How do ski resorts make snow? I cover these—and seven more snow stories—in the latest snow.news post. 👉 www.snow.news/p/10-snow-st...

❄️ Snow drought update 🛰️ West's Dec. 7 snow cover: lowest for that date in satellite record since 2001 🥵 “Nearly every major river basin in the West experienced a November among the top 5 warmest on record." www.drought.gov/drought-stat... 📸 My view at Purgatory, north of Durango, on Dec. 12

Almost every station in the Tahoe is measuring record low snowpack/liquid equivalent to date. Precipitation enters the forecast this week, but the freezing level is predicted to remain >9,000 ft. That means rain will be the dominant precipitation type for >95% of the Lake Tahoe watershed. #CAwx

Skimpy snow makes life worse for skiers — and everyone else The sport may seem selfish, but it reminds us why good snowpack matters.

New report from the Colorado River Research Group: Dancing with Deadpool. It begins: "Conditions on the Colorado River are, to put it bluntly, dire." www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/C...

High temperatures coupled with mostly below normal precipitation caused low snow-water equivalent (SWE) and worsening drought conditions in November. Learn more: wwa.colorado.edu/resources/in... @cires.colorado.edu #wx #weather #snowpack #drought

November 2025 snowfall departure from normal.

A category 5-ish atmospheric river (based on intensity & duration of moisture delivery over the PNW) is setting up over the entire width of the North Pacific this week. Forecasted to be ~3x longer than avg ARs. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

The West could sure use some snow. The snowpack in seven states is below 50% of normal. It's still early in the season, but there's a lot of catching up to do. More details in my latest post at snow.news: www.snow.news/p/grim-weste...

A deep dive into how snow, ice, and cold have changed the course of warfare, and why the specter of a nuclear winter still haunts me. www.snow.news/p/snow-and-w...

In burned forests, the West’s #snowpack is melting earlier: As blazes expand to higher elevations, the impacts cascade downstream -- Mitch Tobin (WaterDesk.org) coyotegulch.blog/2025/11/24/i...

As the West warms, wildfires are burning at higher elevations and charring watersheds where the snowpack accumulates. New research has found that snow is melting earlier in burned areas. I wrote about the study—and the implications for the water supply and ecosystems. waterdesk.org/2025/11/in-b...

An impactful #AtmosphericRiver is forecast to make landfall over CA this evening and bring multiple days of heavy precipitation to the state through Sat. Forecasts have trended towards a slower AR, prolonging the event duration & increasing precip. totals. Read more cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-ar-upda...

Tonight's northern lights in southern Colorado

Slowest start to a snowpack season since 2017, and 3rd-slowest on record. For all intents and purposes, it's basically our slowest (the difference between 2017/2000 and this year is microscopic). Really need that pattern flip to help out the mountains next week. #COwx

See an update on the West’s snowpack and an explanation of how Milankovitch cycles shape the Earth’s climate from journalist @mitchtobin.bsky.social (co-director of WaterDesk.org at CU Boulder) at www.snow.news/p/early-seas...

New post on snow.news provides an update on the West’s snowpack and an explanation of how Milankovitch cycles shape the Earth’s climate. www.snow.news/p/early-seas...

Heavy autumn rains brought relief to drought-plagued portions of the Southwest, but across the Colorado River basin ongoing water supply concerns still linger amid tense policy negotiations and near record-low reservoir storage. #cawater #coloradoriver mavensnotebook.com/2025/11/05/w...

New #GRL paper led by Kyla Bazlen shows that lower, earlier snow leads to streamflow spread out more over the water year. Proud to have worked on this with Kyla! agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Statewide snowpack at just 26% of average, lowest snowpack at this point of the season since 2017. Worth noting since it's so early in the season that these numbers are prone to big swings. Still, not a great start. #COwx

Rough start for Colorado's snowpack, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

My primary interest in snow revolves around topics such as streamflows and skiing, but I’m casting a broad net at snow.news, and I know I can’t tell the story of snow without exploring the morbid and tragic angles. www.snow.news/p/snow-and-w...

New video: A glacier on Antarctica’s Eastern Peninsula experienced the fastest retreat recorded in modern history—in just two months, nearly 50 percent of the glacier disintegrated. Watch this video to understand what happened. Study by @ciresnews #Antarctica #glaciermelt

We’re very grateful for a new grant from the Walton Family Foundation to support The Water Desk and our work to strengthen water journalism in and around the Colorado River Basin. www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...

New research shows the glaciers of the Sierra Nevada have probably existed since the last Ice Age more than 11,000 years ago. The remnants of these glaciers are projected to disappear in the coming decades as temperatures continue to rise. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Today is the last day of the 2024-2025 Water Year. This animation shows snow water equivalent from October 1, 2024, to June 1, 2025. www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/

Three recent studies of the Pacific Ocean have concluded that our emissions are helping drive the Southwest's megadrought. waterdesk.org/2025/09/huma...

It's great to see snow falling again in Colorado. This map shows accumulations over the past 14 days.

The Pacific "blob" is back, except this time it stretches across the entire North Pacific Ocean Basin. This is altering weather patterns, led to Japan's hottest summer on record, and could affect your winter weather too. Also hit hard is marine life. www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/c...

Snowpack ‘hotspots’ better than basin-wide mapping for predicting water #cawater capitalpress.com/2025/09/17/s...

I wrote about a fascinating study that found the average age of the water in Western streams during snowmelt runoff was 5.7 years old. The flows were dominated by groundwater, which has important implications for predicting the water supply. waterdesk.org/2025/09/when...

Our latest research on fire impacts on snow melt timing across the Western US was just published in @aaas.org Science Advances. Read here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New post: update on the Southwest’s snow drought, some cool hydrologic cycle graphics, and photos from Telluride. www.snow.news/p/snowpack-u...

EPA continues to publish a revealing set of climate change indicators. I wrote about the troubling trends for snowfall, snow cover, and the American West’s snowpack. www.snow.news/p/epa-climat... www.epa.gov/climate-indi...

New snow drought update says the snowpack is "abysmal" in Arizona and New Mexico. www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

"Exceptional snow drought persists in the Southwest (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah) as a result of record dry conditions." www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

Record-setting warm and dry conditions have led to a significant snow drought in parts of the West. www.snow.news/p/snow-droug...

I created a cheat sheet for the many websites that track the American West’s snowpack. www.snow.news/p/cheat-shee...

There's a LOT of potential for rainfall rather than snow across WA, OR & NoCal from the approaching family of atmospheric rivers. Nearly all fcasted snowfall in most basins is too close to call, as far as rain v snow. Check out basin fcsts @ cw3e.ucsd.edu/DSMaps/DS_fr... @cw3escripps.bsky.social

How Colorado’s snowpack is stacking up so far this season. After a great November (salmon-colored), it’s been a lousy December (beige) for snow in the high country. nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdb/basin-p...

New research sheds light on key processes driving atmospheric rivers, and may help us better predict their behavior and prepare for extreme events. Discover more about this study: bit.ly/4gatQNl

Now that's a real powder hound

It’s that time of year when I’m looking for a storm a week to build a snowpack. More is better. Zero is not better.

A family of #AtmosphericRivers are forecast to bring heavy precipitation to the US West Coast this week, with the potential for additional landfalling AR activity next week. See our latest outlook for more information: cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-ar-upda....

Latest snowpack map shows a mixed bag across the American West www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-ini...

Bears around home over the years

Historical probability of at least 1 inch of snow cover on Christmas (1991-2020) www.climate.gov/news-feature...

“If all these water rights were developed, it would be a disaster." Colorado has big dreams to store 2.6 million additional acre-feet of water from the Colorado River, more than the state uses now. Great reporting from Aspen Journalism and @waterdesk.bsky.social. aspenjournalism.org/colorado-has...

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