Late-season storms brought much-needed moisture to parts of the West, but they didn’t come close to erasing the deficit. New at snow.news: an update on the snow drought — plus a remembrance of my dad, who helped inspire my love of journalism and weather. www.snow.news/p/snow-droug...

Elephant Butte Reservoir could go as low as 2% capacity this summer. I reported from Santa Fe on the Rio Grande Compact Commission meeting as Colorado, New Mexico and Texas contend with less water after a dismal winter and warm spring. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/2004202...

🔥🔥🔥 The Nov-Mar 2025-26 cool/cold season was anything but cold for most of the Contiguous U.S. It was easily the warmest on record (1895-96 to present) overall. Many individual states shattered their record warmest Nov-Mar.

The latest monthly fire season outlook is up, and it's a doozy. Forecasts look similar a year ago, and the season ended up being below average in terms of acreage, so that's worth bearing in mind. But with the historic snow drought, this could be a big one. www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/p...

April 1 is a key milestone for the West’s snowpack. This year’s data paint a disturbing portrait of the historic snow drought. My latest at snow.news: www.snow.news/p/snowpack-a...

Colorado mountain snow: average year vs. this year. Record low snowpack by a HUGE margin.

This is a graph of snowpack above Lake Powell using 104 snow measuring stations. It was 9 inches of water on March 7, now 6 inches. Other dry years shown.There is no historical analog to this.

From @mitchtobin.bsky.social: "When our snowpack is meager—or entirely missing—it underscores how much we depend on this seasonal accumulation of ice crystals, even during the summer and far beyond the region."

Last week's record-setting heat took a major toll on Colorado's snowpack (which was already in bad shape). We're currently sitting at 44% of average with ~2 weeks to go until our average peak. Little to no precipitation is expected over the next 7 days. #cowx

Reporters! If you need Lake Powell/Bullfrog pics for your stories, check out this album from 2022 with free-to-use photos for news stories: www.waterdesk.photos/Utah/Bullfro...

After a dismal season for snow accumulation in most of the West, what little snowpack remains is set to dwindle amid a stunning March heat wave. New post at snow.news has the details on the deepening snow drought and the implications: www.snow.news/p/march-heat...

Hydrologists described California's snowmelt the past three weeks as "unprecedented" and say the snowpack, already the lowest in more than a decade, will shrink further during a record-shattering heat wave next week. #CAwx

❄️ Another bleak snow drought update as the West faces a March heat wave: "Snow drought worsened from February into early March due to record warmth, despite near-normal precipitation across much of the West." www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

Colorado’s dust-free snow is a bright spot in an otherwise poor winter

Unfortunately, not much good news to share in our February state climate summary. According to NOAA data, it was the warmest February in 132 years of records. Mountain snowpack remains at the lowest level in over 40 years. Several locations set new monthly high temperature records for February. 1/4

The snowpack is below normal in every river basin in the West. This March 8 map shows that a few watersheds are above 90% (green), but all that red shading indicates less than 50% of the 1991-2020 median for snow water equivalent. www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-ini...

5 snow stories on my radar ❄️ Drought, climate, and the deadly Sierra avalanche 🛌 Preserving snow with blankets 🏔️ Reintroducing wolverines to Colorado 📉 Western snowpack update ☃️ Our storm of the season? Read the full roundup at snow.news 👇 www.snow.news/p/5-snow-sto...

From @mitchtobin.bsky.social, snowmelt is responsible for 73% of the runoff from the Sierra Nevada (and 74% in the Rockies) and a large proportion of the water for the West's major reservoirs. mavensnotebook.com/2025/02/03/w...

This morning's total lunar eclipse.

As the climate changes, ski resorts have begun relying more on machine-made snow, which comes with environmental consequences and limitations.

Some impressive snowfall totals are in the forecast. The West's snowpack could sure use it. The map below, via Pivotal Weather, shows the projected 48-hour accumulation from the National Weather Service. home.pivotalweather.com

It's incredibly thin in the high country, and here's a really great analysis on what this dismal #Colorado snowpack could mean down the line. A quintet of @coloradosun.com reporters teamed up to break down concerns across the state. #water #drought

if the Colorado snowpack numbers from SNOTEL stations (52% of median) aren't low enough for you, they get even worse when looking at data across all elevations. Using the University of Arizona's SWE dataset, we're now below one-third of the usual snowpack (32.5%) as of February 9. #cowx

How much is the West’s snowpack worth? I dug into research that puts a price tag on the water stored in snow—and projects how climate change will alter that value. Snow also sustains ecosystems and economies while supporting winter recreation and cooling the planet. waterdesk.org/2026/02/west...

The mountain snowpack so far this winter is in bad shape. Long-time Coloradans might remember two other terrible winters for snow: 1976-77 and 1980-81. Our latest blog post takes a look at how this year compares to those snow droughts of the past. #cowx

Buckle up, folks. Looks like we're in for a doozy. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

How are we doing on snowfall this season in the Contiguous U.S. through January? Well, it's the lowest combined total thru Jan since 1943-44. While places in the South and East that average 5" to 20" have done pretty well, most everyplace out West (MUCH higher averages), have had little to no snow.

More grim news about the West's snow drought: 🛰️ Lowest Feb. 1 snow cover in the satellite record (since 2001) 📉 Record-low Feb. 1 statewide snowpack in Oregon, Colorado, and Utah ⚠️ “A Dry, Warm January Leaves the West With the Worst Snowpack in Decades” www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

The American West’s snowpack is valuable for many reasons, but can its worth be calculated in dollars and cents? And how is climate change affecting that value? #cawater mavensnotebook.com/2026/02/05/w...

Given the latest NOAA CBRFC inflow forecast for Lake Powell, I dusted off this plot from my Twitter days and updated it. The Feb 1st outlook for Colorado River flows hasn't been this poor in >35 years. Even if wetter weather ahead, bottom-10 outcome likely. h/t @glenwoodrek.bsky.social

I summarized 5 scientific studies that examine how climate change is reshaping the Winter Olympics. New post at snow.news also includes an update on the West’s meager snowpack. www.snow.news/p/winter-oly...

Widespread bleak readings for the West's snowpack — and the water it contains. All of the red dots on this map represent monitoring stations where snow water equivalent was below the 15th percentile on February 2. nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/imap/

NASA: Western U.S. snow cover is tracking at record-low levels for January, based on satellite observations dating back to 2001. science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-...

Rare Gulf Effect Snow in Tampa Bay, Florida this weekend. It's possible. My 101. www.forbes.com/sites/marsha...

Record warmth this winter has left a diminished snowpack in many areas of California's Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. The meager snowpack in the Rockies will worsen the Colorado River's chronic water shortages. www.latimes.com/environment/...

The Winter Storm Severity Index for the next 3 days shows the huge footprint of this dangerous weather system. WSSI highlights areas where travel and daily life may be disrupted by snow, ice, and wind. www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/wssi/wss...

Some good historical perspective here on the winters of 1976-77 and 80-81 before the ski areas had snowmaking. The current winter is likely sitting worse than 80-81 at this point, maybe not quite as bad as 76-77, but hard to compare because there wasn't much real-time snow data then. #cowx

A serious snow drought is gripping much of the American West as record-breaking warmth has dominated the winter so far. New post at snow.news has the latest on the West’s thin snowpack: www.snow.news/p/snow-droug...

Another climate feedback loop: Snowpack has trouble sticking around after forests are burned in megafires www.circleofblue.org/2025/water-c...

As of today we have a new record low snowpack for the Upper Colorado River basin for late January.

Series of big storms are needed to make up huge snow supply gap, Colorado water experts say

Northern lights and the Milky Way near Durango tonight.

🌡️ December brought record-breaking average temperatures to 9 Western states, and Idaho had its second-warmest December on record (dating back to 1895). www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

"Vail Resorts said far fewer skiers have visited its mountains so far this season, in large part because of low levels of snowfall." In the Rockies, only about 11% of its terrain opened in December because snowfall was nearly 60% below the 30-year average. www.wsj.com/us-news/vail...

Globally, no single day in 2025 was cooler than its 1991-2020 average. climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima...

Exceptional. Record-smashing. Disturbingly warm. December 2025 was one for the record books in Colorado. 🌡️ Warmest December 🌡️ >1000 daily high temperature records 🌡️ Warmest October thru December by far 🌡️ 4th-warmest year Read more in our monthly summary: climate.colostate.edu/monthly_summ...

Welp, it's officially Colorado's worst season-to-date snowpack on record. Just a smidge below 1990, 2000, 2013, 2018 levels. Records only date to 1987, but still worst snowpack in ~40 years of data with little relief in sight = no bueno. #COwx

The current inflow forecast for Lake Powell is bleak. Lots of winter left to go, but the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center shows if conditions stay dry this spring could bring one of the top 10 lowest flows into Powell, pushing it closer to a loss of hydropower production this summer.

🌱 The Ted Scripps Fellowships offer a 9-month residential program for experienced journalists to audit CU Boulder environmental courses and develop a journalism project with $80K stipend, tuition, and project funding. Apply by March 1 → www.colorado.edu/cej/ted-scri... #JournalismFellowship

Much of the West is experiencing a snow drought, with record warmth as well. “This is up there with some of the worst [winters], if not the worst.” www.cnn.com/2026/01/09/c...