From The Greeley Tribune (Eric Brown) via The Fence Post:
“We’ve had some snow recently that’s helped us rebound a bit, but we’re still a ways behind … and nowhere near where we were a year ago,” [State Climatologist Nolan Doesken] said, reflecting back to the winter and spring of 2011, when snowpack numbers were well above normal. As Doesken explained, most of the snowfall in the mountains doesn’t come until March and April. Last year, it wasn’t until the second week of April that the heavy snowfall came, he said during his presentation Wednesday. But the persisting La Niña weather patterns make it tough for forecasters to predict big snows this spring, he added. La Niña patterns traditionally result in dry weather, even bringing on drought in some areas — as it did in Texas this past year…
While much of the state has seen some improvement during the month of January, the South Platte River has taken a step backward, with its snowpack 19 percent below average Wednesday after it was 15 percent below average on Jan. 1…
While some farmers can depend on that stored water to irrigate their crops later this year, dry weather could cause problems for dryland wheat farmers and others who plant crops that don’t use irrigation.