DENVER — Denver’s winter has started with a whimper, and the parched mountains to the west aren’t faring much better.
The Mile High City has already shattered its 87-year-old record for the latest measurable snowfall set on Nov. 21, 1934, and it’s a little more than a week away from breaking an 1887 record of 235 consecutive days without snow.
The scenario is playing out across much of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as Montana and in the broader Western United States, which is experiencing a megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change. It’s only the second time since 1976 that Salt Lake City has gone snowless through November, and amid the unseasonably warm weather in Montana, a late-season wildfire fueled by strong winds ripped through a tiny central Montana farming town this week.
The warm and dry weather has drawn crowds to restaurant and bar patios in Denver, and the city’s parks and trails have been bustling with people basking in the sunshine in shorts, short sleeves and occasionally flip flops.
As enjoyable as the weather is, climate scientists and meteorologists are warning that prolonged drought could threaten the region’s water supply and agriculture industry. It also could hurt tourism, which relies heavily on skiers, snowboarders, rafters and anglers.
“Every day that goes by that we don’t see precipitation show up and we see this year-to-year persistence of drought conditions, it just adds to a deficit. And we continue to add to this deficit year after year, particularly in the Colorado River Basin,” said Keith Musselman, a hydrologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Derek Greenough moved to Denver a few months ago and immediately bought a snowboard with the hope of soon hitting the slopes. But on Wednesday, he was enjoying the warm weather in a city park.
“I’m from central New York so I expected it to be somewhat like there, which they have about 5 feet of snow right now,” said Greenough, 27, who was wearing a tank top and exercise shorts. “Today I figured that on the first day of December it would be snowing, at least something, but here we are. It’s a nice day. … I don’t think I’ll be snowboarding anytime soon.”
Denver’s high Wednesday hit 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius), tying the record set in 1973. The National Weather Service is predicting similar conditions over the weekend with only a slight chance of snow at the beginning of next week.
Frank Cooper, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado, said a La Nina weather pattern is pushing storm tracks farther north into the Pacific Northwest and Canada, allowing highs in the Denver area to reach into the 70s.
“Basically, we haven’t had any systems really able to get into the area to cool us off,” he said, noting that the average high in Denver this time of year is 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius).
Musselman likens mountain snowpack to a natural reservoir that holds moisture during the winter months and releases it in the spring and summer when demand from trees, plants, animals and humans is greater.
“That natural reservoir is being affected by climate change, and warming is reducing the amount of snow that’s occurring in the mountains,” he said.