Colorado snowpack crisis

Colorado’s mountain snow usually acts like a frozen savings account: snow piles up through winter, then melts slowly into rivers in late spring. This year, that account was drained early, and by April 1 the statewide snow water equivalent was just 3.3 inches, or 22% of the 30-year median across 115 monitoring sites. (climate.colostate.edu) That number is shocking partly because early April is normally the high point of the season. Instead, Colorado State University’s climate team said snowpack in many basins peaked in late February to mid-March and then shrank through March, weeks earlier than normal. (climate.colostate.edu) The reason is not just a dry winter. March brought record-breaking heat across the Mountain West, so the snow that did fall started melting like it was May, not March, and many lower and mid-elevation sites lost their snow cover altogether. (climate.colostate.edu) By April 1, 36% of Colorado’s Snow Telemetry sites had already melted out. In a normal year, a big share of those stations would still be holding snow and adding to the spring runoff pulse. (wwa.colorado.edu) That is why forecasters are now looking past the snow map and straight at river flow. The Western Water Assessment said April 1 streamflow forecasts for Colorado rivers were mostly just 25% to 45% of average, which points to thin runoff even if April storms help a little. (wwa.colorado.edu) The Colorado River’s headwaters show how severe that drop is. Federal forecasters said only 1.4 million acre-feet of water are expected to reach Lake Powell from April through July, which is about 22% of average and nearly 1 million acre-feet lower than the March forecast. (kunm.org) An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of land one foot deep, or roughly what two to three households use in a year. Losing close to 1 million acre-feet from one monthly forecast update is the kind of change water managers notice immediately. (kunm.org) For Colorado itself, the first effects are likely to show up in smaller creeks, earlier peak flows, and shorter runoff season windows. Trails that usually stay muddy and snow-covered into late spring can dry out faster, while streams that rely on gradual snowmelt can drop sooner in early summer. (coyotegulch.blog) Colorado has had bad snow years before, including 1977, which still holds many April 1 record lows. What stands out in 2026 is that the state entered spring with one of its weakest snowpacks on record and then lost more of it during a single hot month that arrived before runoff season was supposed to begin. (climate.colostate.edu, climate.colostate.edu) A snowy April can still improve conditions at the margins, but it cannot rebuild a winter that never really happened. By April 9, the Upper Colorado River basin snowpack was still only 27% of median, so the state is heading into its main melt season with far less water left to melt. (wwa.colorado.edu)