April 2026 State of the Western U.S. Snowpack: Worst Snow Year Ever?

The snowpack builds gradually through the season as layers from each storm settle and compact. When storms are frequent and temperatures stay cold, the snowpack deepens and strengthens. But if the weather turns warm or dry, it may fall short of expectations.

Snowpack is measured in two main ways: total snow depth and snow-water equivalent (SWE). SWE is especially important because it quantifies the water actually stored in the snow, providing a clearer picture of how much runoff may be available in spring. For instance, 10 feet of dense snow can hold as much water as 20 feet of lighter snow.

Let’s take a look at the current SWE across the U.S. to see how this early-season snowpack stacks up against the 30-year median.

Overall, the snowpack, as a percentage of average, has gotten even worse since last month. 

Regional Snowpack Breakdown

There’s really not much analysis needed. 

The entire map is either red, orange, or yellow indicating we barely built the snowpack:

• California: ~20% of normal
• Nevada: ~20%
• Utah: mostly 0–30%
• Colorado: ~15–40%
• Arizona & New Mexico: near 0% in many basins

Not a single area is green, blue, or especially dark blue.

Many were hoping for a miracle March to help save the snowpack, but it never happened. At this point, some ski areas are still open, but for many, the season is a wrap.

• Related: Full List of All the Early Ski Resort Closures Across the Western U.S.

Interestingly, when looking at the year-to-date precipitation totals, the West received enough precipitation, but it just wasn’t warm enough for it to fall as snow.

Here are the year-to-date precipitation totals from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

As you can see, there is plenty of green and blue.

State by state analysis:

A massive, unprecedented heat event hit the West in March.

Dozens of ski resorts closed early.

In many places, the snowpack peaked in late February.

Precipitation is near normal in much of the West for the current water year (starts Oct 1).

Storms came in throughout the winter, but they came in warm and dropped rain instead of snow.

The results aren’t pretty:

• Colorado: lowest snowpack on record
• Utah: lowest on record, peaked early
• California: 2nd lowest April 1 on record

Snowpack is the West’s natural frozen reservoir and it’s hurting this year.

The bright spot this April 1 is BC.

British Columbia is averaging 115% of normal snowpack for April 1.

We’re really hoping for a big recovery winter next year 🤞❄️

Taken together, this winter will be remembered less for one catastrophic stretch and more for a season-long failure to stack meaningful snow. Storms came too infrequently, snow levels were often too high, and the mountain snowpack never had the steady reinforcement it needed to recover. Even where precipitation totals looked respectable, too much of it failed to arrive as snow, leaving the West with a shallow, underwhelming snowpack and one of the poorest snowfall seasons in years.