{"id":1795514,"date":"2026-02-26T21:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1795514"},"modified":"2026-02-26T21:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:52:17","slug":"how-will-this-winter-affect-the-40-million-people-living-in-the-colorado-river-basin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1795514","title":{"rendered":"How Will This Winter Affect the 40 Million People Living in the Colorado River Basin?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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85-95% of the water in the Colorado River Basin, which supplies 40 million people, comes from mountain snowpacks. | Photo: CU Boulder Water Desk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Recent storms brought much needed snow to ski areas in the western United States, but as the East Coast digs out from another blizzard and New England ski areas continue to enjoy record setting snow years<\/a>, many Western ski areas continue to struggle to open and maintain terrain.<\/strong> With March rapidly approaching, this season has crossed the \u201cbad start\u201d threshold and is now solidly in \u201cbad year\u201d territory. The recent wave of storms brought much needed snow to many areas, with Palisades Tahoe reporting over 100 inches in the last 10 days, Alta reporting almost 60 inches, and Steamboat reporting almost 25 inches. Yet, most SNOTEL<\/a> sites across the West still report below average snowpacks compared with twenty year averages.<\/p>\n