Colorado residents face earliest water restrictions ever — a harbinger of worse to come

SLC normally gets about 30” in the valley. The second worst year of snowfall was in the 20s I believe, with 14.5”. This year we’ve gotten 2.9” Edit to add: someone below me is purporting we’ve hit 18”. That is false. The total snowfall at SLC airport is under 4” as of March 27

We had fires all last week off highway 115. You could see the smoke coming from behind Carson. It's gonna be a scary summer for sure

It's like that all across the western US. The [snowpack](https://nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/imap/#version=2&elements=&networks=!&states=!&counties=!&hucs=&minElevation=&maxElevation=&elementSelectType=any&activeOnly=true&activeForecastPointsOnly=true&hucLabels=false&hucIdLabels=false&hucParameterLabels=true&stationLabels=&overlays=&hucOverlays=&basinOpacity=75&basinNoDataOpacity=25&basemapOpacity=100&maskOpacity=0&mode=data&openSections=dataElement,parameter,date,basin,options,elements,location,networks&controlsOpen=false&popup=&popupMulti=&popupBasin=&base=esriNgwm&displayType=station&basinType=6&dataElement=WTEQ&depth=-8¶meter=PCTMED&frequency=DAILY&duration=I&customDuration=&dayPart=E&monthPart=E&forecastPubDay=1&forecastExceedance=50&useMixedPast=true&seqColor=1&divColor=7&scaleType=D&scaleMin=&scaleMax=&referencePeriodType=POR&referenceBegin=1991&referenceEnd=2020&minimumYears=20&hucAssociations=true&relativeDate=-1&lat=42.065&lon=-115.290&zoom=4.4) right now is the lowest it's ever been for this date at most of the observation sites in the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, the Rockies, and everything in between. This map should disturb the hell out of people. Red indicates the worst year ever. Orange is the second worst year ever. If you investigate the blank circles, the majority of them represent missing observations because there is no snow at all. This is a crisis for half of the country.

The whole states gonna be on fire. My friend in CB said the peaks look like they would in June or August and that the melt off from the mountains is gonna probably be done by July. We're so fucked.

My fear is buoyed by the fact that it's still March. There's every chance we can still have a wet spring, even if that doesn't mean snow for the snowpack. April is usually our 2nd snowiest month anyway, hopefully that holds true.

Also in CO. Winter was like spring and spring is like summer. We are fucked.

I am from Oklahoma and went to Colorado last week for spring break. It was near record highs in temperature and no snow anywhere except the very top of the mountain. Was able to take the kids snow tubing at least.

Yeah, we cooked

In reply to the drought, “You gotta take them branches from the forest floor” - Agent Orange

Summer is already bad. Spring finished up a few weeks ago, and autumn transitioned to spring back end of January. At least for weather. The high peaks are mostly clear already. It's been sunny and in the 70s up in Summit and Eagle counties, instead of being buried in heavy snow storms. Spring snow at this point would f*** us with ephemeral overbloom that turns into a tinderbox within weeks. Hope for a dry spring and a heavy June and beyond El Nino monsoon pattern as the best outcome for the year.

People honestly shouldn't have 'grass' in their yards anymore in Colorado anyway. There are too many people here who refuse to admit that we are more like Utah, Nevada and Arizona than the midwest when it comes to water.

I'm starting to feel that a green lawn during a time of drought is immoral.

Just water the lawn with bottled water instead

Are people in Denver allowed to collect rain water? I lived there years ago and it was not permitted, which i thought was super weird.

I'd bet my life that my apartment complex won't give a shit. They don't even turn off their automatic sprinklers when it's down pouring rain.

Dust storms have been seeming to increase in the old Dust Bowl areas over the last few years every spring. Before 2020 I had never heard of large dust storms into the central Plains (outside of the 30s) but now they're every year it seems, from western TX up through western KS. Last year, in eastern NE, we had Oklahoma red dirt blowing into my city a thousand or so miles away.

We’ve had dust storms in Illinois this year.

Yeah but what if the democratatic canidate is kinda meh or has even a single flaw? I mean is NOT destroying the country and planet enough of a platform? /S 

What are the data centers using water for? Cooling presumably? I am just amazed that they are managing to waste that much water.

Exporting alfalfa AMERICA FIRST!

Easy fix is to significantly reduce the number of cows we raise for food and beef prices will just go up. We’re going to have to make significant changes over the next 20 years just to make sure we survive as a species

Go mtn biking!

Oh, come on.. Data centers employ like 3-5 people once they’re set up! Surely that covers the millions in tax breaks. Checkmate, liberals 😎

A third to almost half of the water from the CO river is diverted to growing alfalfa and other hays for cow food. How much goes to golf courses?

Golf clubs can't drink water you silly goose

By all means, go drink the “golf course” water. The human body tends to struggle with effluent.

What some people think is the Colorado river emptying into the sea is in fact sewage .. The sea isnt meant to smell like that.

Actually no. They loosened those restrictions a couple years ago. You can have up to 110 gallons in 2 barrels now. It used to be outright illegal, but i never knew anyone who got in trouble for that, and this year is be surprised if anyone was able to actually get that much at one time on a average residential plot.

Its legal, but regulated.

can someone tell me WHY capture & storage of rainwater would be illegal in the first place?

Actually down near 45,000 now. 🙄

America needs more ice And LESS ICE at the same time

No glaciers, and very few ice fields.