All-important Sangre de Cristo snowpack plummets to 67% of the 30-year median Colorado has borne witness to two bouts of false spring in the past month. For example, temperatures rose to 61 degrees in Westcliffe on February 4. But often, these warm temperatures were coupled with fierce winds. Despite a fantastic start to winter when several storm systems dropped feet of snow on the region, the emergence of the predicted La Niña pattern in the Pacific Ocean has caused the winter storms to push further to the north, leaving the Valley windy and dry. The evidence of the early melt was apparent in the overflowing ditches along Macey Lane and the swollen banks of Grape and Texas Creek earlier in February. The US Weather Service…
