Record snow drought unprecedented heat is hitting much of the American West, depleting future water supplies, making it more vulnerable forest fires and harms winter tourism and recreation.

Scientists say both snowpack and snow depth are at their lowest levels seen in decades, while at least 67 western weather stations recorded the warmest December on record through early February.

The normal snowpack this time of year should be about 1.2 million square kilometers (460,000 square miles) — roughly the size of California, Utah, Idaho and Montana — but this year it’s only one-third that, about 401,448 square kilometers (155,000 square miles), according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

“I’ve never seen a winter like this,” said center director Mark Serreze, who has been in Colorado for nearly 40 years. “This pattern we’re in is so damn persistent.”

Oregon’s snowpack — measured by the amount of water trapped inside — is not only at a record low, but 30 percent below the previous record, said Jason Gerlich, regional coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Drought Early Warning System.

Much of the US east of the Rockies has been covered in snow for more than two weeks bone-chilling abnormal coldbut in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Trevor Stephens went to the store last week in sweatpants and a T-shirt.

“There’s no snow on the ground right now,” he said in a video interview, looking out his window and bemoaning the lack of snowboarding opportunities. “I’d definitely rather have icy roads and snow than whatever is going on here.”

Concerns about water supply and forest fires

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The ski resorts were already in trouble through a difficult season, but the lack of snow is persistent enough to raise concerns about the wider effects.

Oregon, Colorado and Utah reported the lowest statewide snowpack on record since the early 1980s.

A dry January means most states received half their average rainfall or even less. Coupled with sunny days and higher-than-average temperatures, this means little snow accumulation in a month that historically has a lot of snow accumulation across much of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. Because of the heavy rains in December, California is in better shape than other states, scientists say.

As of Monday, it had been 327 days since Salt Lake City International Airport had received 2.54 centimeters (1 inch) of snow, making it the longest stretch since 1890-1891, according to the National Weather Service.

The scant snow in Colorado and Utah has put the upper Colorado River basin in the middle of a snow drought, Gerlich said.

Solid mountain snowpack that slowly melts as winter warms to spring ensures a steady flow of water into streams and rivers. This helps ensure enough water later in the year for agriculture, cities, hydroelectric power systems and more.

But a lack of snow or too rapid melting means less water will fill rivers like the Colorado later in the season.

“This is a pretty big problem for the Colorado watershed,” said Daniel Swain of the University of California’s Water Resources Institute.

Experts say the snow drought could also start early fire season. Snow that disappears earlier than average leaves the ground exposed to warmer weather in the spring and summer, which dries out the soil and vegetation faster, said Daniel McEvoy, a researcher with the Western Regional Climate Center.

Too warm for snow

Although it was dry, the record low snowpack was mostly the result how warm the west waswhich is linked to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, several scientists said. Since Dec. 1, according to NOAA, more than 8,500 daily high temperature records have been broken or tied in the West.

Most of the precipitation that would otherwise fall as snow and stay in the mountains for months instead falls as rain, which runs off faster, Swain and other scientists said. That is the problem of scientists they warn about climate change.

From time to time, it happens without snow, but heat that was this extreme is easier to attribute to climate change, said Russ Schumacher, professor of atmospheric sciences at Colorado State University and Colorado State Climatologist.

“It was so warm, especially in December, that it only snowed on the highest parts of the mountains,” McEvoy said. “And then we moved into January and it got really dry almost everywhere for the last three to four weeks and it stayed warm.”

Wetter, cooler weather is coming

Meteorologists are expecting wetter, colder weather with some snow across the West this week, so this could be the peak of the snow drought. But it will still be warmer than usual in many areas, and scientists are not optimistic that there will be enough snow.

“I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to get back to, you know, average or anywhere close to that,” Schumacher said. “But at least we can reduce those disadvantages a bit if he becomes more active.”

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