snowpack

The Bureau of Reclamation is releasing a "high-flow experiment" from Glen Canyon Dam after forecasts showed a boost to Lake Powell.

It’s the peak of an epic ski season across the Mountain West. With more storms on the way and spring breakers soon descending, avalanche experts are urging caution.

Wyoming’s crop production mostly declined last year, and according to experts, it is largely because of drought and the inflation of goods making it more expensive to farm.Wyoming is not necessarily a haven for growing things – there is a lot of desert, it is pretty dry and at a high elevation – but, there are farmers in the state that depend on their crop yields for a source of income.

A new study shows that extreme spring heat waves can wipe out mountain snowpack at alarming rates, with big consequences for the West’s water supplies.

Researchers are traversing Western mountains to better understand snow algae – and whether its blooms are hastening the melting of mountain snowpack.

A new study shows wildfires are burning more high-elevation areas, and that’s impacting the snowpack across the West.

As a drought-stricken region looks ahead to the summer, climate scientists are keeping an eye on high-mountain snowpack and its path to streams and rivers. Snow at high altitudes makes up the majority of the water in the Colorado River – where this past winter has left low totals.

Airborne Snow Observatories flies planes over watersheds and beams masses of laser pulses each second to the snowpack below to create elevation maps. The maps help calculate snow depth and the water supply forecast across the West.

If it doesn’t snow again in Denver soon, this will be the city's shortest snow season on record. And Denver's dearth of snow reflects a more consequential climate trend – the Mountain West's shortening season for accumulating mountain snowpack.

As historic levels of drought persist across the Mountain West, water officials in Northern Nevada are warning that peak fire conditions might appear sooner this year than in the past – and at least one rural reservoir is so dry it can’t provide water for irrigation.