The Drought Diaries: No Snow

By Eilene Lyon

Last winter in southwestern Colorado was not great. I spent much more time riding my mountain bike than I did on skis. That was a problem here, but not widespread. This winter has been something different entirely. The Rocky Mountain West, and all the way to California has seen a dearth of snow.

The Colorado mountains give rise to the two vital western rivers: the Colorado and the Rio Grande. Snowpack usually melts throughout the spring to fill rivers and reservoirs. Here it is March, and we have almost no snow pack already! I haven’t seen snow in my yard since early February.

Our high temperature hit 86 F this week. One day, our temperature differential made an all-time record of 53 degrees: 32 in the morning, 85 by mid-afternoon. Even a 50 degree difference is rare. I’ve been saying that we went from late fall directly to early spring. We may need to add another season to our calendars: Scorch.

We got less than an inch of moisture each month from December through February. This month’s total: zero. To say we’re concerned is an understatement. We get our water from a well. It has never run dry. Could this be the year?

What is doing exceptionally well in these conditions? The weeds and the aphids. I worked hard to pull all the non-native mustards last year before they went to seed. They’re back in full force this spring, and they brought reinforcements. I can’t recall ever being so far behind on weed control before the end of March. It’s nuts! Two years ago we still had snow on the ground on this date.

We’ve long had trouble with aphids on our willow tree, but we have been using neem oil each spring and controlled them. Two years ago, giant aphids arrived to attack the local oak trees. Some of them also attacked my Concord grape vine. Those guys are nearly the size of ladybugs.

Last year, the columbines had a major aphid infestation that I kept under control just spraying with the hose. And for the first time ever, I found microscopic, pale green aphids on my asparagus crop—massive amounts of them. I expect both of these to be a big problem this year.

But our problems pale compared to the West as a whole. Agriculture will be decimated. Cattle herds will be culled. Water-rationing has already begun in municipalities. There will be no river-rafting season here in Durango, so tourism income will drop. Somehow the ski area is still open through this weekend, but I expect there’s more dirt and rocks up there than snow.

We’re going camping. Might as well. Things are still green for the time being. Stay tuned.

Note: all the photos in this post were taken this week.

Feature image: La Plata Mountains. Those peaks should all be white right now. Usually the snow lasts until at least mid-May, sometimes into June.