At Last - Snow

At Last  - Snow

Chatted with our county plow guy at the post office last week and the subject, of course, was the lack of snow to plow. The county snow plow had not been moved since December 19th. For a ski area this is bad but it is even worse for the approaching summer Fire Season. In March the forest service measures the snow pack to determine fire danger and issues in the watersheds. The snow pack recharges our aquifers. And with the prolonged drought there are dry well issues. If the drought continues newer wells will be knocked off.

So when snow fell on the 31st of January everyone was happy. It was a very wet snow but not much off it. Maybe two inches, when here in the mountains, a foot would be more ordinary. But not this year. Or for much of the last four years. And the temps this winter have been 15 to 20 degrees above normal - recorded normal. That is the problem with weather forecasts at the moment. We are so far from normal that none of the computer models based on normal records work.

In the last forecast for the 31st Denver was to get a foot but only received about six inches. Starting tonight there are snowflake icons in all the next ten days but it is chance of snow or slight chance of snow. And no guesses about depth of snow.  We have all become rather skeptical. Like, "We will believe it when we see it." I worry about my trees and bushes.

And the future. When will be have a winter with no snow? Water will soon be the new oil so those who believe in fracking will have to one day realize they have soured the only water they have to drink. Think that is silly? I understand it was one of the subjects for the BLM management plan for our new national monument, Rio Grande del Norte.

God, what a mess men have made of things.

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