A quick look at the latest National Drought Monitor map for Colorado paints a bleak picture:
It shows most of the Front Range Foothills including Nederland in extreme drought. In the 10 years we have lived in Ned, this is the most severe drought I have seen here. This is a big handicap going into a strong La Nina winter. La Nina winters tend to be drier than normal for us. There are always exceptions, but it is looking like the drought will only get worse this winter. Note that the worst drought conditions are right along the Colorado River headwaters. Barker Reservoir in Nederland is already lower than I’ve ever seen it. Next year could see shortages in water supply.
Our weather over the next week into the Thanksgiving holiday will be decidedly uneventful. Winds will kick up on Thursday ahead of the next storm. This system will bring us colder temperatures starting on Friday, but there will be little in the way of precipitation. Temperatures this weekend and through much of next week will generally be near normal with highs in the low 40s F and lows in the mid 20s F. Taking a peek at the latest GFS total precipitation forecast for the next two and a half weeks shows not much in the way of precipitation for us Front Rangers through early December:
It does show upwards of 1.0 inches of liquid on the west side of the Continental Divide, but not much here.
How much snow is up in the Front Range Mountains right now? Not much. The Niwot Ridge, Eldora, and University Camp snotels are reporting anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of snow. The Berthoud Pass snotel is showing 13 inches with about the same in the Park Range near Steamboat Springs.
With no big storms on the horizon we can look forward to dry and occasionally windy conditions to end November.
Here is the Weather Underground forecast for the next several days:
Snow lovers hang in there. It should be cold enough for the ski areas to continue making snow.