Colorado snowpack this week set a dubious new record, reaching its lowest point in recorded history for mid-January.
Snowpack in Summit County and the Upper Colorado River Basin is 41% below average, according to SNOTEL sites. At Hoosier Pass south of Breckenridge the snowpack is a dismal 57% below average.
And with low snow, comes worsening drought.
Nearly every square inch of Summit and Eagle counties is rated “extreme drought” today, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor. Last year at this time there was no drought in Breckenridge, Vail or surrounding mountains.
Drought conditions are even worse to our south, from Fremont Pass into Leadville, where the drought is rated “exceptional.” That is the highest and driest level of drought.
The last – and only – time Colorado was this dry in winter was January 2021. In that season the exceptional drought stuck with us through mid-February.
Colorado’s neighbors are doing slightly better. In the past week drought conditions improved for eastern Arizona, western New Mexico, eastern Nevada and western Utah, according to drought monitor authors.
But that moisture never made it here. Write the authors, “extreme and exceptional drought expanded in central Colorado, and abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions expanded across much of eastern Wyoming.”
They see no end in sight for Colorado with another round of unseasonably warm temperatures into next week.
The Great Lakes and East Coast meanwhile will see more rain and snow, and below-average temps. Even Florida will be colder than usual.