Since the start of the year, Colorado's snowpack has been shrinking, going from 98% on January 3 to 88% today.
Underlying this decline: extremely dry conditions in the southwestern part of the state.
In the Gunnison, Upper Rio Grande, San Juan and Dolores basins, snowpack has remained almost stagnant since late December with storms generally bypassing the Four Corners region.
Two storms will impact the state over the next week. The first will - once again - mainly impact the northern mountains. But, by late week, a cutoff low is likely to track near the Four Corners region to finally provide the southern tier with beneficial and much needed snowfall.
After a wild week of weather here in Southern Colorado, the outlook for early February shows a potential return to warmer than average temperatures over parts of Southern Colorado.
This weekend will be cold, but beyond that, it's looking much more typical temperature wise for the end of January and the start of February.
An UPDATED look at the longer range 8-14 day outlook shows a potential return to drier than average conditions across the southern tier of the Four Corners Region, which does include a small sliver of southwestern Colorado.
For the I-25 corridor and eastern Plains, the outlook calls for near average snowfall into the first week of February.
Although still months out from peak snowpack, low snowpack years often raise red flags for the state. They are typically associated with drought, wildfires, and low reservoirs downstream.
Stay tuned for updates this winter and spring right here at koaa.com and on air on News 5.
