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Colorado's snowpack woes continue despite recent storms

KUNC | By Scott Franz

Published March 4, 2026 at 5:01 AM MST

Dry mountains and hills are pictured next to sprawling cities as seen from an aerial photograph. A small ribbon of snow capped mountains are in the background. — Colorado's snowless Front Range as seen on Feb. 15 from a commercial flight approaching Denver. The state's snowpack was at about 62 percent of normal at the end of February.

Recent storms in Colorado’s high country last month did not dramatically improve what’s still on track to be a record low snowpack season in the Rockies.

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Statewide snowpack was hovering at about 62% of normal entering March.

“There have been worse years for snowpack in the past, but not very many, and not for quite a long time,” Colorado state climatologist Russ Schumacher said Monday. “And so it's concerning to be sitting at this point at the beginning of March.”

All around the state, there are signs of how unusual this winter has been.

Some Front Range residents started watering their lawns last month after seeing almost no moisture during February.

Fort Collins has seen at least 43 days above 60 degrees this winter, more than doubling the previous record of 22 set way back in 1981.

And in northwest Colorado, some ranchers spent last month sharing photos of dry fields and antique farm equipment that usually is buried under snow this time of year.

Snow covers the very tops of large mountain peaks in an aerial photograph. The cities at the base of the mountains are dry and surrounded by brown fields. — Snow covers only the tops of the peaks in southern Colorado on Feb. 15 as seen from a commercial flight approaching Denver.

“The (snowpack) deficits are really big at this point,” Schumacher said. “So I think low stream flow is a pretty safe bet for this spring and summer.”

Schumacher said storm systems could help make up the gap in March and April. But he said long range forecast models are not suggesting that a “miracle March” is on the horizon.

Water managers are already warning of potential water restrictions in the Colorado River basin.

Denver Water said that as of March 2, the Colorado River snowpack ranked the second worst since tracking started decades ago.

“It is likely that we will need to implement additional drought response measures this year,” the company wrote in a snowpack update this week.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.