DENVER — Denver Water says snowpack as of Monday was near record lows.
The Colorado River Basin within Denver Water's collection system was at 55% of normal. The South Platte River Basin was 42% of normal.
"In Denver Water’s decades of records for its watershed collection areas, as of Feb. 9, the Colorado River snowpack ranked among the worst, and the South Platte River snowpack ranked the worst," a Denver Water statement reads.
Front Range
Aurora Water: Restrictions 'likely' amid record-low snowpack
For some context, Denver7 talked to State Climatologist Russ Schumacher, who said the lack of snow is the worst we have had in over 40 years. He also said it's Colorado, so you can never rule anything out. March and April tend to be our snowiest months.
We asked what kind of storms would Colorado need to catch up.
"March and April would have to be essentially record-breaking high snowfall to get back to around average snowpack by the time all is said and done later in the spring," Schumacher said. "I was just looking at those numbers. If we have average snowfall through the rest of the snow accumulation season, we won't be in the historically bad range anymore, but it'll still be way below average for the season as a whole."
The other issue is what's essentially our savings account: our reservoirs. Schumacher said the snow pack wasn't very good last year either so the reservoirs farther west and south are low. He said the ones along the Front Range are not in as bad shape.
"The snow that falls in our mountains is the water supply for tens of millions of people to the west," Schumacher said. "That's the water for agriculture, water supplies for drinking water and all of that."
As for any relief, Schumacher looked at the long-range forecast.
"The little bit of hope we have here is that it does look like probably later this year we will go into El Niño," he said. "El Niño, on the whole, tends to be wetter across Colorado, not as much in the winter, but especially in the summer and fall."
