Snowpack Totals Continue to Worry Meteorologists

Snowpack Totals Continue to Worry Meteorologists

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
The final weeks of the wet weather season for the west is underway. That's when precipitation in the form of mountain snow is most needed to supply rivers and streams for the Spring and Summer seasons. The water is needed for Colorado farms and ranches as well as city water supplies. But more and more it's looking like water is going to be in short supply this year.

USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says the early predictions in January of dry conditions leading to shortages are now more worrisome.

The main reason for the dry winter is the still active La Nina weather system

Although La Niña is on the way out, it will "continue affecting temperature and precipitation across the United States during the next few months," according to the Climate Prediction Center.

The prediction center said La Niña will decay and return to ENSO-neutral in the Northern Hemisphere this spring.

The "in between" ocean state of ENSO can be frustrating for long-range forecasters. Climatologist Bill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"It's like driving without a decent road map — it makes forecasting difficult."

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