Click the link to read the article on the Steamboat Pilot & Today website (Ali Longwell). Here’s an excerpt:
March 24, 2025
Snowfall in March has helped decrease the likelihood of drought developing this spring in Colorado’s northwest mountains. However, a warm and dry spring could still change the tide heading into summer. The National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, released its latest seasonal drought outlook on Thursday, March 20. It showed that drought conditions are unlikely to develop in most of northwest Colorado through June…Brad Pugh, a forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate prediction center, said these outlooks predominantly take into account the current conditions, climatology temperature and precipitation outlooks over the next three months.
“In northwestern Colorado at this time of year, you know going into the springtime, mountain snowpack is a critical factor,” Pugh said.
As of March 18, much of northwest Colorado was in line with, or just above, normal snowpack. This has continued to improve in the state’s north-central mountains since January. According to OpenSnow, as of Monday the snow totals and percentage of normal on the season so far were as follows:
- Winter Park – 315 inches (117%)
- Copper Mountain Resort – 303 inches (113%)
- Vail Mountain – 292 inches (101%)
- Breckenridge Ski Resort – 284 inches (107%)
- Steamboat Resort – 279 inches (108%)
- Aspen Highlands — 267 inches (88%)
- Loveland Ski Area – 261 inches (108%)
- Snowmass – 243 inches (83%)
- Keystone Resort – 239 inches (107%)
- Beaver Creek – 227 inches (108%)
- Arapahoe Basin Ski Area – 225 inches (112%)
- Aspen Mountain – 210 inches (92%)
- Ski Cooper – 206 inches (106%)
- Buttermilk – 147 inches (89%)
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor for Colorado reported no drought in many of the northwest counties including Summit, Grand, Routt and Jackson counties as well as the eastern reaches of Eagle and Moffat counties. Heading west, the monitor shows abnormally dry conditions in Pitkin County and the eastern portions of Garfield and Rio Blanco counties. Conditions continue to get progressively drier the further west toward the border.