A warm, relatively dry winter in the West has resulted in record-low snowpack in portions of several states. The impact on the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people, has raised concerns among water authorities in the region.
“What you’re seeing is bare mountaintops, and what that is gonna mean for us is low reservoirs this summer,” Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, told KTNV. “And the uncertainty with that is making life very difficult on water managers.”
Climate data from the National Centers for Environmental Information reveal that Nevada had its 16th-warmest and 15th-driest first two months of meteorological winter on record, while Utah had its 22nd-warmest and seventh-driest December through January period. These are just two examples of states that rely on the Colorado River for water and have been hit hard by a winter weather pattern that has left snowpack severely depleted…