Colorado waved goodbye to winter with a late-season blast, as a May snowstorm brought more than 2 feet of snow to some areas of the state. But was the storm enough to keep the snowpack above the zeroth percentile? The statewide snowpack is at 25% of median as of May 8, meaning the mountains have one-quarter of the typical amount of snow-water equivalent compared to the median for that specific date. Despite still being on the lower end of snowpack for an average spring in Colorado, the state is officially out of historically low levels for the first week of May. … While this is good news, Colorado is still on track to lose its snowpack earlier than normal.

Other snowpack news around the West:

• The Times-Independent (Moab, Utah): Utah’s historically poor snow season now points to troubling summer water outlook
• The Salt Lake Tribune: See the dramatic difference between Utah’s best and worst snow years
• The Guardian: Lasers in the sky: hi-tech missions track record snowpack loss in US west