With time running out, snow drought and warm weather raise wildfire risk in the West

A combination of balmy winter weather in the western United States and one of the worst snow droughts in decades has experts concerned about wildfire season.

A combination of unusually balmy winter weather across much of the Western United States and one of the worst snow droughts in decades has experts bracing for what could be a particularly intense wildfire season.

The snowpack is well below average for this time of year in nearly all Western states, with little time remaining to add snow cover and depth in the mountains before spring thaws begin. At the same time, higher-than-normal temperatures have made for a warmer and dryer winter than many states are accustomed to, raising concerns about wildfire risk and water supply.

“The snowpack in Colorado’s mountains is the lowest it’s been in over 40 years,” said Russ Schumacher, director of the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University and the state climatologist.

The period from October through February in Colorado — a time when the state normally sees a large buildup of snow in the mountains — was the warmest on record “by a large margin,” Schumacher said. Fort Collins, where he is based, nearly doubled its previous record for the number of 60-degree-Fahrenheit days in the winter, jumping from 22 days to 43 so far.

As a result, the state hasn’t seen the types of snowstorms it would normally expect, and when storms have hit, they have often dropped rain instead of snow, particularly at middle and lower elevations.