Current indications are that late spring or even mid-summer-like (in some places) heat will arrive and persist for a fairly extended duration across a wide swath of the American West, centered on the Four Corners to Southern CA region. This will induce rapid melt of remaining snowpack.

Woah.

500 mb standardized departures for the Dec-Feb period. There's a +3.5 std. dev. contour over the 4-Corners region.

NOAA CBRFC's Mar 1st official forecast for Lake Powell April-July inflows is out, so here's an update of my "spaghetti" plot. Despite better snowfall in February, the most-probable forecast remains bleak at 36% of average. Even an unusually wet Mar-May would only get us to ~65% of average.

And record-breaking daily-to-monthly high temperatures are occurring, in even more widespread fashion, yet again today. #CAwx #AZwx #NMwx #COwx

"We are wrong because we started the war" should be the anchor point for all coverage of what's happening and it's remarkable how quickly that tends to get obscured. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-countr...

A special issue from the team at @biographic.bsky.social! What has happened in the year since the Trump administration's wide ranging cuts to global conservation initiatives? A lot. And when you dig into the history, it's not entirely surprising: www.biographic.com/conservation...

Legacy mining mercury still pollutes Nevada rivers, raising concerns across Mountain West www.kunr.org/local-storie...

Federal officials now project that Lake Powell will "most probably" drop below power pool level — meaning Glen Canyon Dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower — before the end of this year: www.landdesk.org/p/the-colora... via @landdesk.bsky.social

Damn. abc7news.com/post/rescue-...

The Navajo Nation wants to keep operating a coal mine for another 110 years, even though it has no idea who will buy all that coal. www.landdesk.org/p/four-corne... via @landdesk.bsky.social

More than 8,500 daily heat records have been tied or broken in the West this winter (2025-2026). "I have not seen a winter like this," said National Snow and Ice Data Center director Mark Serreze, who has been in #Colorado almost 40 years coyotegulch.blog/2026/02/12/m...

One group is now proposing “Abundance” on the Colorado River by building a “coordinated suite of desalination plants.” “At some point, doesn’t it seem just a little bit easier, and a hell of a lot less expensive, to live within our means?” @landdesk.bsky.social www.landdesk.org/p/abundance-...

In Printz v. United States, #SCOTUS held that the Constitution bars the federal government from forcing or otherwise compelling local or state governments to enforce federal law. The liberal squish who wrote the majority opinion in that case? Justice Antonin Scalia: tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

Oil and gas companies are sitting on nearly 9,000 approved but unused drilling permits on U.S. federal lands, while the Trump administration invades Venezuela on their behalf. www.landdesk.org/p/data-dump-... via @landdesk.bsky.social

Living in the Lie open.substack.com/pub/johnganz...

Emily Heller, an eyewitness, is speaking out to set the record straight. Officers were screaming at Renee Nicole Good, “Move, move, move.” So she moved, and they shot her multiple times? Then Noem and Trump branded her a domestic terrorist. Does everyone see how absolutely insane that sounds?

Petrostate politics are initiated by those seeking profit but ultimately dictated by those seeking hierarchical, unbounded control.

INBOX: Statement from Senator Kelly

Sacrifice for the Sun: Fiction for the Solstice open.substack.com/pub/landdesk...

Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.

Utah’s snowpack situation is looking kinda precarious after a warm fall.

This is INSANE www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/t... and these are our closest allies!

Wolves and bears are recolonizing Greece, sustained in part by an out of control boar population. Awesome. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Cars kill more Americans than any war since the 1950s every single year. What happened to this woman is awful, but when are we going to talk about how cars have been not merely growing but a *persistent* threat for generations now? How cars blessed us with microplastics, war, and sprawl? Huh? When?

Let's just temporarily name all the ephemeral bodies of water the Beloved Trump stream/arroyo/gully, etc. Protection secured! 😏

On Trump's arroyo-phobic Clean Water Act rule www.landdesk.org/p/on-trumps-...

Et tu, Cisco? Developer looks to turn Utah "ghost town" into "our town." www.landdesk.org/p/et-tu-cisc... via @landdesk.bsky.social

"If Trump really cared about energy dominance, independence or abundance, he would use all of the tools at his disposal to 'win' this war." -- @landdesk.bsky.social w/more great thought-provoking words for @highcountrynews.org www.hcn.org/articles/the...

There once was a time, believe it or not, that Republicans and ranchers lobbied for more wilderness. My piece on the Weminuche Wilderness at 50 www.landdesk.org/p/the-weminu...

The river outlets at Glen Canyon Dam were operating today. Not sure why, but it sure looks cool.

I was wrong about Trump, okay!? www.landdesk.org/p/i-was-wron...

The San Juan River at Pagosa Springs is at major flood level again this morning.

Our ranch in NW Rio Arriba County, NM went fm Abnormally Dry in October 2024 right past Moderate and Severe to Extreme Drought in September 2025... why this doesn't galvanize every farmer/rancher into climate action is beyond me. They should read Jonathan Thompson @landdesk.bsky.social like I do.

It kind of makes you wonder: Is this new wave of nuclear reactors solving the data center energy demand problem? Or are data centers’ energy-gobbling habits "solving" the nuclear reactors’ cost and feasibility problems? www.landdesk.org/p/are-nukes-...

Big Tech invades Nevada's power grid (and desert) www.landdesk.org/p/big-tech-i... via @landdesk.bsky.social

One pretty foolproof way to know your government is fascist is when your government tries to punish you for calling it fascist.

A team of Colorado River experts urges users to slash consumption ASAP to avoid a crisis. www.landdesk.org/p/experts-sl...

“Where the hell is the concern about federal overreach now?” www.landdesk.org/p/where-are-... via @landdesk.bsky.social

🌶️ You can’t grow chile without clean water. In Rio Arriba County, aging oil & gas wells threaten to poison what sustains us: land, water, and legacy. Op-ed from @vivarioarriba.bsky.social on why modernizing bonding will help make #NMPol safer and cleaner. www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_v...

I also talked with Western environmental journalist Jonathan P. Thompson, author of the @landdesk.bsky.social newsletter, for this week's Boiling Point podcast. Great conversation about the Colorado River, coal plants and national parks. Listen in: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Appreciate @landdesk.bsky.social covering the transition from fossil fuels to renewables -- oh, wait, I mean efforts to extend the life of antiquated coal-fired power plants & build new fossil methane pipelines to meet growing power demand from energy-intensive data centers.

"Interior Department has gone even further with a new order that threatens to kill all new renewable power development on federal lands." - @landdesk.bsky.social writing about the Interior Department's new "capacity density" order: www.landdesk.org/p/trumps-war... 🔌💡

Morons.

No, there is not plenty of water for data centers www.landdesk.org/p/no-there-i...

The West’s data centers suck (water and power). Lots of great information and visualizations here from @landdesk.bsky.social ‪@highcountrynews.org‬ www.hcn.org/issues/57-8/...

The #RioGrande has gone dry in Albuquerque -- John Fleck (InkStain.net) coyotegulch.blog/2025/07/16/t...

In which I compare the Colorado River Compact to an inherited potato farm. www.landdesk.org/p/colorado-r...

@landdesk.bsky.social explains the Colorado River Compact of 1922 open.substack.com/pub/landdesk...