March melted western snowpack
Unusually warm temperatures in March produced sharp snowpack losses across the western U.S., with side‑by‑side photos showing major melt and some basins at record‑low levels. (The Cool Down) (thecooldown.com) A Winter 2025/2026 report compiled seasonal snow and weather data that reinforces the picture of a thin late winter across multiple mountain regions. (Poudre Rock Report) (poudrerockreport.com)
Snowpack across the western United States usually builds into late March, but this year record heat melted it down before April arrived. (drought.gov) Snowpack is measured as snow water equivalent, the amount of liquid water stored in mountain snow. On April 1, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming all posted record-low April 1 snow water equivalent since SNOTEL monitoring began in the 1980s, and California recorded its second-lowest April 1 value. (drought.gov) The March heat was broad and intense. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 10 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming — had their warmest March on record. (ncei.noaa.gov) That warmth arrived in the month when many western basins normally add snow, not lose it. Drought.gov said the heat wave and dry conditions triggered rapid early melting of an already thin snowpack across most of the West, with Washington and parts of Idaho and Montana as the main exceptions. (drought.gov) California’s April 1 benchmark made the collapse easy to see. State officials found no measurable snow at Phillips Station during the April 2 survey, and statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 18% of historical average on April 1. (goldrushcam.com) In Washington, where April 1 is also near the normal peak, the state climatologist’s office said many basins were only 35% to 60% of median snow water equivalent. It said the mid-March event and melt likely pushed the statewide peak about two weeks earlier than normal. (climate.uw.edu) The reason water managers watch April 1 so closely is simple: mountain snow works like a reservoir that fills in winter and drains in spring. Drought.gov said many forecast points in the Colorado River Basin are now expected to produce less than 30% of average runoff this spring and summer. (drought.gov) The thin late winter shows up in local data too. A winter 2025-2026 report from Colorado’s Poudre Rock Report said the season had passed the historic peak snowpack date and compiled snow and weather data showing a weak finish to winter in the northern Front Range. (poudrerockreport.com) Forecasters do not expect a quick reset. The Climate Prediction Center’s April-through-June outlook favors continued warmth across the West and dryness in parts of the region, conditions that tend to speed melt and shrink whatever snow is left. (cpc.ncep.noaa.gov) NASA satellite comparisons and station data now show the same story from Utah to California to Colorado: the West entered April with less snow, less stored water, and less time before summer heat takes over. (thecooldown.com)
