What does drought look like? How record-low snowpack is hitting southwestern Colorado

RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post on Apr 5, 2026

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DENVER — Colorado is experiencing its lowest snowpack levels since record-keeping began statewide in 1941. Statewide snowpack, as of Thursday, was at 26% of the median — about a quarter of what the state typically has this time of year, according to data from the USDA National Water and Climate Center.

That means there is roughly 74% less snow than normal feeding rivers like the Colorado River. Even as the snowpack was ticking back up slightly after snowfall last week, the seasonal trends were still worrisome.

In southwestern Colorado, conditions are even more dire. The San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan River Basin is at just 19.5% of median snowpack, while the Gunnison River Basin sits at 23% of median. These key tributaries to the Colorado River are already in severe to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Adding to the strain, the region was hit in March by what meteorologists call a “heat dome,” which blanketed the southwestern United States. Southwestern Colorado experienced a heatwave during that period, setting numerous daily temperature records.

Despite the conditions, Simon Martinez, the general manager of the Ute Mountain Ute Farm and Ranch Enterprise in Towaoc, Colorado, remains cautiously optimistic.

“We will be all right,” said Martinez, sitting in his truck outside the mill at the farm and ranch headquarters.

This summer, the farm will run on just 10% of its allocated Colorado River water because of low snowpack. Using its block system — dividing large agricultural land into manageable sections — the operation will plant only one section this growing season, leaving the remaining five sections for ranching or to sit fallow.

As Martinez spoke about the challenges ahead, activity continued elsewhere on the property. In a dusty corral, Hardy Tozer, a livestock manager for the enterprise, branded calves with the tribe’s Bow and Arrow brand during the first branding of the year.

“At least cattle prices are good right now,” said Martinez.

Colorado isn’t just seeing a single record year — it is experiencing a run of some of the warmest years ever recorded, capped by the warmest winter in state history in 2026.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis activated the state’s drought response through the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. The Colorado Drought Task Force, a state-level emergency coordination group, is activated when conditions become severe. The last time it was activated was in 2020.

“The Drought Task Force allows us to bring together experts from across the state to share information and better understand how drought is impacting communities across Colorado,” said Dan Gibbs, the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, in a March 17 news release put out by the governor’s office.

For a group of teens cooling off at Navajo Reservoir recently, this is simply the new normal.

The reservoir is currently about 60% full, roughly 50 feet below full pool. On a near-record warm spring day in late March, teens in Arboles, Colorado, jumped from sandy banks into cold water fed by snowmelt from the San Juan Mountains, which flows down the San Juan River into the reservoir. The reservoir serves as a key upstream control point in the Colorado River Basin.

The teens said it was the lowest they had ever seen the lake and that, in their lifetimes, they had never seen it full. As they gathered their belongings — including large blue tubes used for floating — they began the walk home across several hundred feet of exposed lakebed.