Snow season is off to a rough start for Utah and its neighbors. Most of the West is in a snow drought, with so little white stuff covering the ground that the region hit a 25-year low. If the trend continues, it could be a recipe for disaster for the Colorado River and its reservoirs. That includes the nation’s two largest, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which prop up a system that provides water to communities on the Wasatch Front and tens of millions of other Americans across the West. A new report from more than a dozen Colorado River experts projects that even near-average snowpack this winter could send the two reservoirs to record lows in 2026.

Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Rain, snow returning to California. Here’s when a flurry of storms could hit
• Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah): Not just Utah: The West is off to its slowest snow collection start in at least 25 years​
• The Record-Courier (Minden, Nev.): West’s snow cover worst in 24 years