In Park City, Utah, skiers could find patches of grass poking through the slopes for much of the winter — a striking sign of a season that never really arrived. Now, after one of the warmest winters on record, much of the West is entering spring with snowpack at historic lows and an early heat wave that pushed temperatures into triple digits. These woes could be straight out of a climate fiction novel. But the West’s no good, very bad winter was alarmingly real. And, experts say, a worrisome combination of low snowpack and a devastating heat wave could create a summer ripe for climate disasters. 

Other Colorado River Basin snowpack and drought news:

• Rocket Miner (Rock Springs, Wyo.): Where’s the water?: Local authorities brace for dry summer
• AP News: Record low Colorado mountain snow won’t bode well for water in the drought-stricken US West
• Inside Climate News: Water-use restrictions follow snow drought and heat wave in the Western U.S.
• Straight Arrow News: Low snowpack, early melt triggers alarm bells for farmers, drought managers
• The Guardian (U.K.): ‘On a whole other level’: rapid snow melt-off in American west stuns scientists
• University of Colorado Boulder: Blog: Winter never came to Colorado. What does it mean for water supplies?
• The Conversation: Blog: Winter’s alarmingly low snowpack offers a glimpse of the changing rhythm of water in the western US
• The Land Desk: Blog: Tell me about your yukigata and your runoff peak prediction!