Conditions in context: snow cover
Snow-covered area for the 2021 water year continued to decrease rapidly in May (Figure 1, left). A storm in Montana in the third week of May interrupted the rapid melt temporarily before it resumed in the last week of May. Similar to April, snow-covered area in May has low year-to-year variability because snow remains mostly at higher, colder elevations. Still, snow cover was very low (Table 1). Below average snow-covered area in the western United States spanned large areas in California, southern Oregon, and Utah (Figure 1, right). Locations on the eastern edge of the Colorado and Wyoming Rocky Mountains had above average conditions. Idaho, Washington, and Montana had high regional variability over short distances, with a mix of above, near, and below average conditions. California, Oregon, and Utah fell below the previous 21-year minimum snow-covered area.
Snowfall in the West indicates 20-year drought will persist and intensify
April 15, 2021
Researchers with the University of Colorado work on the 2019 snow survey in the Green Lakes Valley, which includes the Arikaree Glacier and provides a substantial portion of the water supply for Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Kodas/Inside Climate News)
Sparse monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter have combined to dramatically worsen the drought across the West in the past year, and spring snowmelt won’t bring much relief.
Critical April 1 measurements of snow accumulations from mountain ranges across the region show that most streams and rivers will once again flow well below average levels this year, stressing ecosystems and farms and depleting key reservoirs that are already at dangerously low levels.
/
Researchers with the Long Term Ecological Research station at the University of Colorado’s Mountain Research Station on the Niwot Ridge of Colorado’s Indian Peak work on the 2019 snow survey in the Green Lakes Valley, which includes the Arikaree Glacier and provides a substantial portion of Boulder, Colorado’s water supply. The LTER runs a snow survey in the valley every year.
Lack of monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter combined to worsen the Western drought dramatically in the past year, and spring snowmelt won’t bring much relief. Critical April 1 measurements of snow accumulations from mountain ranges across the region