West's snowpack is alarmingly low

The West’s mountain snow usually works like a giant frozen savings account, building up in winter and melting slowly through spring. This year that account is close to empty in big parts of the region, and fire forecasters are already warning of a longer season than usual. (nifc.gov) (boisestatepublicradio.org) Snowpack is the water stored in mountain snow, and western states count on it to feed rivers, reservoirs, farms, and forests after winter storms stop. When that snow never piles up, or melts weeks early, the land dries out before summer even starts. (drought.gov) (research.fs.usda.gov) What happened this winter was not just “not enough storms.” Forest Service scientists say much of the West got early-season precipitation, but warm and dry weather in January plus rain falling on snow in February melted a lot of it away. (research.fs.usda.gov) That is why researchers split this into two kinds of snow drought. A dry snow drought means too little precipitation fell, while a warm snow drought means enough moisture arrived but temperatures were too high for it to stay snow. (research.fs.usda.gov) By February 1, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah had the lowest snowpack levels on record since continuous snow data collection began in the early 1980s. Forest Service researchers said it was already unlikely at that point that the snowpack would recover before spring. (research.fs.usda.gov) Utah shows how extreme this got. The Natural Resources Conservation Service said Utah’s April 1 snowpack was the lowest in the state’s recorded history back to 1930, and the next-lowest year, 2015, still had about five times more statewide snow water than 2026. (abc4.com) (kpcw.org) California’s benchmark survey at Phillips Station was nearly as stark. On April 2, the California Department of Water Resources found no measurable snow there, and statewide the Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at just 18% of average for April 1. (water.ca.gov) (usatoday.com) Fire agencies care because snow does more than store water. A deep snowpack keeps soils damp, delays the drying of grass and brush, and shortens the window when sparks can turn into fast-moving fires. (research.fs.usda.gov) (drought.gov) The National Interagency Fire Center’s April outlook says above-normal fire potential is expected to spread across much of the West by June. Boise State Public Radio quoted National Interagency Fire Center meteorologist Jim Wallman saying the setup points to “a potentially very long and very busy fire season.” (nifc.gov) (boisestatepublicradio.org) The danger starts before forests are at their driest. Fast spring heat can cure grasses early, leaving millions of acres of fine fuel that ignite easily and can push flames into brush and timber once lightning and wind arrive. (boisestatepublicradio.org) (research.fs.usda.gov) Water managers are staring at the same problem from the other end. With less snow left to melt through late spring and summer, streams can peak earlier, reservoirs get less refill, and communities have less cushion if heat waves keep coming. (water.utah.gov) (water.ca.gov) So the story is not just that the mountains look bare in April. It is that the West may be entering the hottest months of 2026 with less stored water, drier vegetation, and a fire calendar that has started moving earlier than the map says it should. (npr.org) (nifc.gov)