Fish out of water on the Colorado River
With drought and high temperatures putting unprecedented pressure on water users throughout Colorado, from cities to agriculture, there’s one segment that can be affected first — and maybe worst...
Winter’s alarmingly low snowpack offers a glimpse of the changing rhythm of water in...
As global temperatures rise, the freezing line where precipitation changes from rain to snow moves up the mountains, shrinking the area capable of sustaining a seasonal snowpack.
Glen Canyon Dam faces its existential moment
PAGE, Ariz. – In the span of U.S. history certain years are turning points, milestones in the nation’s story. 1776. 1865. 1929. 1968. Circumstance and consequence conspire to make...
Colorado River emergency actions leave root causes of crisis unaddressed
On April 17, the federal government ordered emergency measures to prevent water levels at Lake Powell from falling so low that Glen Canyon Dam, which created the reservoir, could...
The driest year revisited: Five takeaways from 2002 for today’s Colorado River
The Colorado River basin has been here before.
This year’s historic winter of low snow might feel novel. But recent years give some insight into just how dry the West’s...
Photos: Low snowpack in southwest Colorado, March 2026
This page in our free multimedia library features photos of the record-low snowpack in southwest Colorado along U.S. 550, between Durango and Ouray.
Like the rest of Colorado, the...
As the West’s scant snowpack melts, Coloradans brace for a lean water year
Call it the winter that wasn’t.
Throughout Colorado a record-warm and dry winter has come to a close. Attention now pivots to spring and the potential for additional snow to...
Upper Basin states test methods to fill Powell pool
States say automatically turning to agriculture isn’t always reliable
A record warm winter could send Lake Powell to a historic low. Flaming Gorge...
A cream-colored band lines the orange sandstone walls that rise above the blue-green waters of Lake Powell. The so-called “bathtub rings,” these chalky layers remind boaters zooming across the...
Aspen activist wants ‘rights of nature’ for the Roaring Fork River
Movement reimagines humans’ relationship to local waterways