When Snow Runoff is Low, So Are Our Spirits

At this time of year in Western Colorado, my friends and I watch rivers. We’re eagerly anticipating a bruising spring runoff and the start of kayak season. When it arrives, many of us become obsessive, meeting daily after work to paddle.

Not this year. In one of the driest springs in Colorado history, our watershed’s snowpack was 26% of normal on April 1. The impact on fire danger, drought, agriculture, economy, and ecology is going to be profound.

But this is the new normal in a climate-changed world. Colorado has warmed 2.3° F since only 1980. The Upper Colorado River Basin suffered close to...