First Day of Spring

Bare patches of dirt and rock break through the rapidly thinning snow base, a snapshot of a troubling statewide reality. Colorado’s snowpack sits at just 50% of normal today, the first day of Spring, one of the worst seasons on record. State climatologists believe many areas of the state at high elevations may have already reached peak snowpack, arriving weeks ahead of the typical April 8 peak. With a heat dome moving in and the melting starting early, Red Flag fire warnings are already active across the Front Range.

Colorado is a “headwaters” state, meaning its high mountain peaks and snowfields are where small streams and tributaries gather strength as they flow downhill, eventually becoming the massive river systems that carve through the American West. Four significant river systems originate here: the Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas, and South Platte. About 70% of the Colorado River Basin’s annual streamflow comes directly from that snowmelt, serving seven states and northern Mexico, upwards of 40 million people.

Colorado’s snow crisis is the West’s water crisis.