Colorado鈥檚 snowpack is nearing the lowest it鈥檚 been in decades.  The mild winter is bad news for powder skiers and snow-dependent businesses in the state.  It鈥檚 also a concern for millions of people across the Southwest who depend on melting snow for their drinking water and farms.

Snowpack a 鈥榁irtual Reservoir鈥�

Mage Skordhal shields her eyes from the unforgiving high-altitude sun as she snowshoes into a 鈥淪notel鈥� monitoring station on Berthoud Pass, at 11,000 feet along the Continental Divide west of Denver.

鈥淭his site gets used for basin averages for the upper Colorado, the headwaters of the Colorado,鈥� says Skordahl.

Hydrologists like Skordhal, who works for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, have been visiting this site, taking snow depth samples for sixty years.  The method itself hasn鈥檛 changed much since then.  They still use a hollow, metal tube and probe it into the snow at precise locations.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 8 inches, yeah, 8 inches of water,鈥� she says, jotting the numbers down.

Gaging the depth and water content here is important because much of this snow will melt and flow into the Colorado River, eventually winding its way to taps from Denver to Los Angeles.

Think of it like a virtual storage reservoir.

鈥淚n the western states, about 75% of our water comes from the snowpack,鈥� Skordhal says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot.鈥�

So when the snowpack measured here at the headwaters of an arid region is at just over half of normal?  It鈥檚 time to take notice.

鈥淲e still have a lot of season left, but it鈥檚 not a good start,鈥� Skordhal says.

Water Utilities on Alert

70 miles east, up and over the Continental Divide from the Snotel site is Dana Strongin鈥檚 office at Northern Water.  Her agency pumps melted snow through a maze of pipes and reservoirs that feed thirsty cities and farms in northeastern Colorado. 

鈥淭he big thing that I鈥檝e heard our engineers say is if we have to have a dry year, which we鈥檙e never excited about, this is a great year to have it,鈥� Strongin says.

Northern officials and their counterparts at other agencies in the region aren鈥檛 worried yet because last winter was so snowy.

鈥淏ut if this year lags, and next year lags, yeah, we can lose levels in our reservoirs and get a little concerned,鈥� Strongin says. 鈥淎 good portion of the 2000s was pretty rough on our storage.鈥�

So it鈥檚 not a crisis yet if you鈥檙e in the water business.  But what about the West鈥檚 winter recreation economy?

Ski Resorts Hurting

At the base of the Winter Park Ski Area in Grand County, a few snow boarders and skiers slide into the lift.  Like many western ski resorts, Winter Park has been left pretty high and dry so far this year.  Barely a third of the mountain is even open, and resort officials say they stopped making snow in December. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e in the industry of Mother Nature,鈥� says Mistalynn Lee, the resort鈥檚 spokesperson, who says a fairly strong holiday season has helped businesses in the area get by.

Still, nearby Vail Resorts has attributed a 15% drop in skier visits to the dismal snow.  The situation is worse in Lake Tahoe, California.  Just about the only resorts doing well are Taos, New Mexico and Whistler, British Columbia. The jet stream has sent the big storms to the far north and south. 

But here in Winter Park, Mistalynn Lee hasn鈥檛 given up on winter.

鈥淭his is very early still in the season,鈥� Lee says. 鈥淲e have four months left in our season and our snowiest month is in March.鈥�

The ski industry is good at sounding optimistic in dry winters like this, since in Colorado alone, skiing generates about $3 billion a year.

Skiers Less Optimistic

Back on Berthoud Pass, a popular jumping off point for backcountry skiers, Rob Thorsheim of Golden is fixing climbing skins to the bottoms of his skis, readying to head up the mountain sans chairlift.

鈥淣ormally you鈥檇 have three or four foot snow banks all around here,鈥� Thorsheim says.

Thorsheim鈥檚 friend Helayn Storch says she has a ski pass to a nearby resort, but so far hasn鈥檛 been using it due to the poor conditions.

鈥淏ecause if you can鈥檛 ski bumps, why ski,鈥� Storch says.

The two are a little more candid than the officials when it comes to the snowfall so far this year. 

They say it鈥檚 been鈥epressing.