Unsettling

Unsettling
2025

There’s unsettling data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service on the Rocky Mountain Western Slope snowpack.

This is the lifeblood of the Colorado River.

We’re looking at the lowest snowpack on record since 1941.

A winter that’s been warm and dry is never good news for the Colorado River.  Across the parched west, our ongoing drought conditions drag on and deepen.

We can reasonably expect a fresh wave of fire warnings to be posted as we step into summer.  And questions about the viability of Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

Looking ahead, our scientists have something else to consider.  The El Niño.

This likely sets us up for more rain, but primarily in California and probably in short, concentrated downpours which do little to ease the drought’s pain.

But who knows exactly how the predicted El Niño will unfold?

And who knows when the people we have entrusted to look after Colorado River water allocations will finally arrive at a compromise and make the best of a bad situation?

It’s all so unsettling.