The Imperfect Storm—Why Western Ski Resorts Are Dry as a Bone

Walk into almost any ski resort base area from the Sierra Nevada to the central Rockies right now and the story feels the same— plenty of frost on the cars, a few white ribbons of machine-made snow, and a whole lot of brown in the mid-elevations.
Colorado’s statewide snow water equivalent is currently in the neighborhood of only one‑fifth of median during the second week of November, a level that tracks with what skiers have seen on the ground.This slow start is not a mystery i