The Colorado River and its tributaries are likely headed for another year of low water.
Jeff Lukas at the University of Colorado-Boulder says if you’re just looking at snowpack to gauge how well a winter is going -- you’re doing it wrong.
“The snowpack conditions for Colorado and much of the Intermountain West don’t look too bad. They range from ‘meh’ to ‘ok,'” he said.
So with an ‘OK’ snowpack in the mountains, we should be in the clear... right? Lukas says not necessarily. The record hot and dry conditions throughout 2018 sapped the ground of its moisture. Leading into this winter, which puts us in a deep hole, he said.
Basically, Lukas says, throughout the southwest, we’re living in a drought hangover. And it’s going to take a lot more snow to pull us out of it.