Jeff Deems News Today

ASPEN — On a sunny day in mid-April, scientist Jeff Deems strapped on his backcountry skis, tromped out to a snow-covered field and began digging. “I was expecting there to be a little more than 70...

Laser technology is being used to more accurately measure mountain snowpack — crucial information for farmers and water managers in drought-stricken areas like the Colorado River Basin.

Outdoors columnist Ted Mahon attempts to make sense of the dust on snow phenomenon with help from Jeff Deems of CU’s National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Conditions in context: snow cover Snow-covered area for the 2021 water year continued to decrease rapidly in May (Figure 1, left). A storm in Montana in the third week of May interrupted the rapid melt temporarily before it resumed in the last week of May. Similar to April, snow-covered area in May has low year-to-year variability because snow remains mostly at higher, colder elevations. Still, snow cover was very low (Table 1). Below average snow-covered area in the western United States spann...

Snowfall in the West indicates 20-year drought will persist and intensify April 15, 2021 Researchers with the University of Colorado work on the 2019 snow survey in the Green Lakes Valley, which includes the Arikaree Glacier and provides a substantial portion of the water supply for Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Kodas/Inside Climate News) Sparse monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter have combined to dramatically worsen the drought across the West in the past year, ...

/ Researchers with the Long Term Ecological Research station at the University of Colorado’s Mountain Research Station on the Niwot Ridge of Colorado’s Indian Peak work on the 2019 snow survey in the Green Lakes Valley, which includes the Arikaree Glacier and provides a substantial portion of Boulder, Colorado’s water supply. The LTER runs a snow survey in the valley every year. Lack of monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter combined to worsen the Western drought dra...

New snowpack totals suggest the 20-year Western drought will persist, intensify Bob Berwyn and Judy Fahys © Michael Kodas/Inside Climate News Researchers with the Long Term Ecological Research station at the University of Colorado’s Mountain Research Station work on the 2019 snow survey in the Green Lakes Valley, which includes the Arikaree Glacier and provides a substantial portion of Boulder, Colorado’s water supply. Lack of monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowf...

A 3-D oblique view of terrain near Aspen, CO from April 7, 2019, showing snow depths mapped by the Airborne Snow Observatory. The Maroon Bells are visible at top right, Highland Bowl and Aspen Highlands Ski Area at center-right, and the enormous avalanche in the 5 Fingers avalanche path clearly visible at center. (Jeff Deems, Airborne Snow Observatories, Inc.) Avalanche forecasting has come a long way since the 1950s, when forecasters relied solely on weather to predict when and where snow migh...

Can NASA satellites help monitor snowpack across the American Southwest? Durango, Colorado Currently Sat 0% chance of precipitation 0% chance of precipitation 1% chance of precipitation 1% chance of precipitation Test site on Red Mountain Pass serving as ‘a great natural laboratory’ Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021 5:03 AM Can NASA satellites help monitor snowpack across the American Southwest? Crews on the ground check snow depth to compare with the findings of a...