Colorado could use a drink. So could the rest of the West.
Good thing we got a few big snowstorms over Thanksgiving and MLK weekend. It’s keeping the chairlifts spinning through May 11 at four local ski hills (Breckenridge, Copper, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland).
But April is limping across the finish line with no more than 32 inches of snow at any of them. Last year all four ended April with 50-plus inches. Loveland claimed 66 inches.
Forecasters are calling for a chance of snow daily this week, but no more than dust on crust. After spending most of winter just above average, local snowpack in the Blue River Basin fell below median on April 13. Today it’s the third leanest in the past decade behind 2021 and 2015.
Taking a look at the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than half the state is now considered abnormally dry or worse. This time last year it was less than half. Three months ago, it was barely one-third.
Summit County remains relatively wet with no drought conditions. It’s the same story to our north in Steamboat Springs and Grand County, where Winter Park-Mary Jane claims the most snowfall in Colorado – 354 inches total and counting before closing day at MJ in May.
But travel just south of Summit into Park County and conditions turn dire. All of Park has some level of drought. Durango and even the Telluride area are even worse.
Suffering the worst this month are Arizona and New Mexico, where drought is severe to extreme. Taos Ski Valley closed on a dismal 105 inches all season. Arizona Snowbowl will somehow stay open for one more weekend, May 2 to 5, with less than 200 inches.
