There was no reason for the hydrologists who help predict the annual water supply for metro Phoenix to visit the snow survey site here until the last week of February. Until a storm passed through heading into that week, there had been no snow to speak of. … The federal government’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center’s March report noted much of the drainage, especially in the mountains of Colorado and Utah, had experienced their worst snowpack since at least 1981. … The warmth that pervaded the West had melted much of the existing snowpack or caused it to fall as rain instead, encouraging evaporation and plant uptake and reducing the amount that will reach reservoirs this spring and summer. 

Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:

• Active NorCal (Redding, Calif.): Sierra snowpack running critically low and reservoir water levels may not last the summer
• The Signal (Santa Clarita, Calif.): SCV water supply off to a good start this year, but snowpack problems loom 
• Deseret News (Salt Lake City): The surprising correlation between forest thinning and snowpacks
• KUTV (Salt Lake City): Strong March precipitation needed to build Utah snowpack before spring melt
• KSJD (Cortez, Colo.): Colorado’s snowpack woes continue despite recent storms
• Vail Daily (Colo.): Opinion: Not looking good at all for Colorado River runoff