snowfan789

More on the record shattering impending western heat wave. Icing on the cake for an already record shattering warm winter, I suppose.

Here’s a snippet from today’s Arizona daily snow on opensnow. I hope this is ok to share here. More remarkable extreme warmth in the West.

That was a great winter for sure. It feels like a flip has switched during the subsequent three winters but that may or may end up proving true. However, the extent to which warm and snowless records have not just been broken but in many cases obliterated this year is ultimately more noteworthy, I believe, than a very good but not record smashing season four years ago now. That’s my take anyway.

Thanks for continuing to keep this on the radar. Truly astonishing to consider the extent to which warm and snowless records have been smashed lately in much of the West, with more to come in light of the upcoming heatwave. Huge margins. This is clearly the most notable weather statistic for the 2025-26 winter season. Even if you only care about your own backyard, the capacity of the now existing state of he Earth to exceed previous records ought to alarm you, as it is only a matter before it happens where you are too. Unbelievably (based on recorded history) warm and generally now bereft of snow out here in Colorado.

Honestly, snow is way more important to the health of the environment and economy in a lot of the West compared to a lot of the East. I say this as a former New England resident who knows full well how fun a snowy and cold pattern for the East can be. So, this incredibly warm winter for the West really is bad news for reasons well beyond snow and cold being enjoyable.

Insane warmth and lack of snow here in Colorado at a time when historically we should be cool mostly and approaching peak snowpack within the next roughly 2-6 weeks depending on elevation. This snow year as far as temperatures and to a lesser extent precip goes is the just about worst year I expected in like 20 years from now based on climate change trends. Difficult to overstate just how bad this winter season has been in much of the West, especially below high elevations. A huge jump upwards, it seems, in terms of what is apparently possible as of today with respect to anomalously hot temperatures especially. Ugh. Climate change sucks.

Here’s more data about how bad this winter has been for the majority of the U.S. Clearly, snowfall is below normal in most places.

Thanks for your message. Maybe I will post a little more often to add a voice from a region that’s not well represented here. Denver does have especially unusual weather. My family left the Front Range for the CO mountains in 2021. The weather tends to be more stable here and can be very interesting - and very boring (long dry spells). I’m “only” at 7000’ but we usually have a solid snowpack from December to March. Not this year, though. We’re probably 50+” below normal seasonal snowfall at this point and it gets worse compared to normal heading east towards the Divide and up in elevation. Most ski resorts in CO are around 50% open or less, which is just mind boggling for February. I joined an older version of this board around 2005, as a New England resident at the time, and still remember fondly the intense excitement of tracking big coastal winter storms. But, broadly speaking, there really is no comparison between the importance of snow in the East vs West for the health of the environment and related things like tourism. A poor snowpack out here, especially year after year, can inflict a massively detrimental impact on forests, fauna, water supply, fire season, the economy, etc. I say this simply to provide a little more context for my repeated and likely forthcoming grumbling about the state of the snowpack in the West. It’s a very important metric for many reasons beyond simply enjoying snow for enjoyment’s sake - though that is certainly a reason to root for winter as well!

I’ve been a regular reader of this blog and its predecessors for about 20 years. I seldom post because, in general, I don’t think I have the expertise to meaningfully contribute. I’ve started occasionally posting recently because I think it is important to note the truly exceptional warmth and lack of snow in significant parts of the West this season, where longstanding records are absolutely being smashed. It is a big deal and should be part of the dialogue alongside the discussion about a kind of chilly and snowy season in parts of the East (only) that’s not historically noteworthy. Just my opinion though.

Significant portions of the West are record warm and snowless to date for this winter season. It is not unreasonable to describe that as a bigger weather and perhaps climate story than a somewhat cold and somewhat snowy winter in some parts of the approximately eastern third of the country only that is for the most part not record breaking. If you only care about the weather in your own backyard, cool. But if you’re genuinely interested in the weather and climate, then the superlative status of the winter in much of the West presumably would be something you’d deem worthy of attention. It is a major weather-related issue at the present with real and lasting repercussions for the environment and economy in a large portion of the country.

Understood. You were pretty clear. That’s why I said intermountain west - while noting that CO has fallen considerably short so far of what I thought you’d been predicting. Bummer for us.

Better recent comparison is probably 2017-18 fwiw.

Again, though, Colorado is a very big frowny face to date. We are superlatively snowless in the mountains based on the period of reliable snotel data going back to approximately the mid-80s. On the other hand, it is true that the interior intermountain west is mostly doing okay based on snotel data north and northwest of CO.

Snow water content as measured by snotel data is probably the single most important fall/winter/spring weather-related metric for the West. And that data for this season so far is generally dismal. It is in fact breaking records in many locations. December was the warmest on record in many parts of the West. So, while it is great that parts of the Southwest have been somewhat wet, this has been an exceptionally poor “cold” season so far for much of the western U.S.

Hope you’re right. It has been an historically abnormally warm and nearly snowless stretch for a sizable portion of the West this season so far. While that to some extent is to be expected at times with climate change, unfortunately, the giant leap we’ve very recently seen towards hot/dry is so extreme that it seemingly must revert towards the mean soon. Also, appreciate the added ~Western perspective in a forum dominated by the eastern approximately 25% of the country. No criticism intended, but what happens in New England, the Great Lakes, and northern middle Atlantic represents a small portion of the U.S. geographically.