As many communities continue to dig out after last week's monster snow , let's take a quick look at snowpack across the state and see what kind of impact the storm had on numbers across the South Platte Basin. The statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) now sits at 108% of the median for the date, and 90% of the median peak snowpack which is ab

It's the worst start to to a new year for snowpack across Colorado since 2018, with the median snowpack running at just 68% to start 2024. Ouch! The troublesome snowpack numbers aren't unique to Colorado either. Across the west we see the majority of basins running below average to date, and in perhaps a majority of cases well below that longterm average. Basins running 70% of better of median are in few company. This year's issue isn't just that it's been dry, but it's also been warm. What

It hasn't been a great start to the snow season across the Western United States, with the majority of basins from Colorado to California reporting (well) below average snowpack through the last days of November. The season is young, so today's numbers aren't necessarily a harbinger of what's to come, but as we get into December we start to really hope to see those numbers climb across the board. For Colorado specifically, the statewide median snowpack is sitting at just 58% as compared to t

Considering the recent flow of moisture toward the western U.S. from the Pacific (atmospheric river events), let's check in on how the water situation looks presently, particularly the Colorado River system. Just after Christmas, a series of atmospheric rivers brought dangerous amounts of rain and snow to California during a 3-week period. So

One storm is not a drought buster, however, the current extended pattern in place over California could make a significant dent in the ongoing drought there – but at a cost. Precipitation totals along coastal California (northern California in particular) have been significant over the last 14 days, with heavy snow inundating the Sierra Nevada mountains – delivering feet upon feet of snow, and precipitation totals in excess of 10" over the two week period. Snowfall over the last seven days:

After a dismal start to the snow season across the Western United States, December 2021 has been one to remember. Basins, many of which were just 10 to 30% of average snowpack to start the month have seen a dramatic turn around with a favorable pattern in place since the first week of December. Those same basins across Oregon, California, and Nevada are now running some 100 to 200% of average. Two more storms are set to swing through before the end of the year, too. For Colorado it's been a

It's been a good month for snow across much of the west. In some places, a great month. Overall, the Western United States continues to play catch up on the snowpack front, with nearly all basins across the west playing catchup after a dry, dry start to the snow season. You may look at the above and see a still overwhelming bias to below average snowpack across most basins. If we compare this map to 10 days ago that we shared in our perspective piece on the slow start to the snow season [https

While there's still a couple more days in the month, weather statewide to end the week looks mostly of the quiet variety. We could have some wind to contend with on Thursday, but no snow or rain in the forecast for the urban corridor (or really much of the state for that matter) through Friday. Officially, Denver saw just about average snowfall for the month of January with Denver International Airport recording 6.2" of snow with a long term average for the month of 6.6". Incredibly, this marks

Friday 10/12/2018 update: Weekend Snowfall Forecast Map -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been a great week or so for snow across the high country, with a sharp up-tick in snowpack in recent days, and more snow on the way. So good, in fact, that Wolf Creek Ski Area will open for weekends starting this week

Matt Makens is a KWGN Pinpoint Meteorologist and occasional contributor to Weather5280 from Denver's Pinpoint weather team. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's the time of year when we look at the snowpack numbers to climb, and hopefully stay near to above average for water resources, fire danger, and the economy; so far, so good. Here is the average snowpack chart for Colorado showing a nearly normal curve until th

The last weeks have been very warm and dry along the Front Range and eastern plains. Our Feb - April outlook issued in January painted a wetter-than-normal forecast for Colorado, including the eastern plains. To date, that outlook has clearly been at odds with reality. However, we've also been saying since January we expect our time to come sometime in the March/April time period. It's important to rememb

In many respects, the last few weeks have been epic for snowfall on some of the state's mountain ranges. Near Crested Butte, totals have climbed above 200" on the season, with several more months to go. These totals are mostly due to a weather pattern change that triggered in late November and early December. Some of this rapid snowfall and water storage was discussed in a previous State of the Atmosphere [https://www.weather5280.com/blog/2017/01/08/the-state-of-the-atmosphere-sunday-january-8t

Well, we've made it. May is finally here, and (even with our recent chilly weather) our snowfall chances decrease markedly with each passing day as we head deeper into the month and on into June. On average, Denver sees 1.7" of snow in May, which makes the month the city's second least-snowiest month of the snowy season behind September (1.0" average). While we still see a few models producing snowfall at higher elevations on Denver's south and west ends at times, the threat for any significant

March featured one of Denver's biggest blizzards in years , and huge snowfall totals for the north-central mountains, but featured warmer than normal temperatures across the state, and very dry conditions across southern Colorado. Precipitation As is usually the case, the precipitation map for March was split. In this case, there was above normal precipitation across northern Colorado and below normal precipitation

You'll recall from our last system (many weeks ago...) that the Canadian was out front in forecasting snow, and by the time the GFS caught up, the Canadian had backed off nearly completely for the metro area. The main energy associated with that system ended up too far west as it dropped south out of the northern Rockies, leaving most of Denver with little snow, but dropping a good amount on the Front Range foothills. We've seen a similar process with our system due in later this week. The Cana

The USDA announced Friday that Colorado's mountains experienced the driest February in 30 years. The data was measured from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) network of weather stations. There are 114 such SNOTEL sites that mostly span the mountains; only a handful are at the lower elevations. At the combined San Miguel, Dolores, Animas & San Juan river basins the stations only received 35% of the average February precipitation. Statewide mountain precipitation

We updated you on the Western U.S. snowpack last week. We have had a big system since, so let's see how things are now following the Groundhog Day Snow, focusing on Colorado and how much snow we've had this season. Colorado currently has more than the average water content in all of its river basins. The extreme southwest has the best average of 128% of average as of 4 February. This is a better water-situat

As we near the end of January it seems prudent to take stock of how we're doing with snowpack in the west this super El Niño year . The answer is, much better than last year, but more rain and snow is needed to overcome persistent drought conditions across much of the western United States. To begin, here's a look at the latest drought monitor from the third week of January. For our Colorado friends, things continue to look good across the state. A few areas of "Abnormally Dry" s

We last updated you on Colorado's snowpack nearly a month ago on February 12, and the picture we painted was a grim one for much of Colorado, especially across southwest portions of the state. But we also said, don't give up yet , as we liked where the pattern was heading. Sure enough, we've seen huge gains over the last month. Not enough to get back to

It's been a grim start to 2015 in the western US when it comes to snow, but recent rainfall has been beneficial The best rains have actually fallen this February. I want to start by showing you the fall and winter precipitation starting in September running through the end of January, before we get to this shifting pattern of February. Notice the fall and winter precipition anomolies across the country. Again, this is

Posted by @brendansweather and @mattmakens247wx The latest drought report came out this week and it paints a pretty grim picture for much of the west, southwest, and south central United States. The good news is relief may be on the way for some of these locations, the bad news is maybe not for California -- at least in the short term. California, suffering from a long winter of above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation is now facing extreme fire danger as we head into the summe

All week we have been talking about the different possible tracks this weekend's storm could take. A more southern route would mean an absolute soaking for the Front Range, while a more northern route would mean more downsloping and less precipitation for western portions of eastern Colorado, or dry slotting. Update on storm track Last night we discussed that most of the models were coming into better agreement, and that the favored track appeared to be a more northern one. Several more model r

While January has been snowy as compared to normal for Denver and the Front Range, the mountains have lacked snowfall over the past couple of weeks. The last good snow in the high country being the weekend of January 12th. Meanwhile, Denver and the Front Range had a few cold fronts to drive up the above normal tally for the month. For the season, however, snowfall is still well below normal, very similar to last year. Even sections of the mountains are in need of snow. Here is the basin in