Last weekend’s winter storm may have covered much of the country with significant snow and ice, but winter has yet to fully arrive in the Western United States. Several states are grappling with snow-induced drought.
According to Peter Goble, the assistant state climatologist, Colorado is experiencing its lowest snowfall amounts on record for this time of year. “All of our mountain ranges are well below normal,” he reported.
Utah is facing a similar predicament.
“We’re in uncharted territory right now, heading toward our lowest snowfall ever by February 1,” stated Kevin Perry, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah.
Scientists are increasingly alarmed about the implications for water supplies and wildfire risks later this year. Mountain snowpack in Western states serves as a crucial water source in spring and summer, directly impacting agricultural irrigation, wildfire dangers, and hydroelectric power generation.
Western snowpack data is sourced from the National Resource Conservation Service, which monitors more than 800 high-elevation monitoring stations across several mountain basins. Their measurements show that nearly all basins in the continental U.S. West are trending below average.
Natural Resource Conservation Services
While it’s not uncommon for some basins to fall below historical averages, it’s rare for nearly all Western regions to be facing snowfall deficits.
In Washington state, a recent climb to Mount St. Helens in mid-January revealed conditions resembling June rather than mid-winter, exposing large areas of volcanic rock near the crater’s rim.
The causes of the snow drought differ by region; however, unusually warm winter temperatures have resulted in more precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. Such was the case during a December atmospheric river storm in the Pacific Northwest.
“Washington, Oregon, California, and many Western states recorded their warmest December on record, leading to torrential rains and flooding not limited to mountainous areas,” mentioned Philip Mort, a professor at Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
Currently, moisture flow has significantly diminished in the northwest.
In Utah, early seasonal rains during November and December melted lower-elevation snow, leaving the Wasatch Mountains looking heavily peak-laden, Perry noted.
“The high-elevation snowpack is relatively good,” said Perry, “but there’s a significant lack of low and mid-elevation snow.”
Colorado continues to experience hot and dry conditions.
“December 2025 was 9 degrees warmer than the statewide average and the warmest recorded since 1895,” Goble noted.
California’s snowpack, known for its boom-bust cycles, is looking better, especially in the southern Sierra Nevada, where several basins report above-average snowpack levels.
Al Drago/Getty Images
However, immediate relief for the remaining areas thirsting for snow is unlikely.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts: Dry weather across much of the West for the next two weeks along with temperatures above average in the coming month.
Mort suggests that regions west of the Cascade Mountains might recover with a few significant storms later this winter or spring.
However, in most parts of eastern Washington and Idaho, “the story seems already written, making change unlikely,” he explains.
Scientists are grappling with measuring climate change impacts on snowpack, as rising temperatures alter precipitation patterns. Snowfall trends are also swayed by natural fluctuations. A 2024 study in *Nature* indicated that climate change is responsible for the snowpack decline across the Northern Hemisphere.
Mort’s data on the western United States indicates a dramatic decrease.
“The narrative becomes clearer and more somber,” he stated.
If low snow conditions persist, it will exacerbate already tense negotiations among seven Western states over the distribution of the Colorado River’s water, crucial for 40 million residents. River flows are diminishing due to prolonged drought and the fact that users are allowed to withdraw more water annually than is available.
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Reclamation released draft water management strategies supporting 5.5 million acres of agricultural and hydropower operations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
States are actively negotiating long-term strategies for managing the river’s water to prevent Lake Mead and Lake Powell dams from experiencing “dead pool” conditions that would halt downstream river flows. However, reports indicate that these negotiations have stalled.
“In the short term, a low snow year could heighten the urgency to finalize these agreements,” said Goble.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
