Extensively dry conditions across the West have already resulted in a rash of fires in Arizona and New Mexico at the tail end of meteorological spring. … [T]he snowpack collection near Truckee, California, in the Sierra Nevada explains a lot of what happened over the winter. The area by Lake Tahoe entered the new year well above average only to drop below average by the start of February and end up below average by the time it melted early. Utah’s statewide snowpack followed this model, too.

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