DENVER – Several more ski resorts are closing for the season this Sunday, even though more snow is expected to fall over the mountains and western Colorado this weekend.
Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Cooper, Crested Butte, Monarch, Silverton, and Telluride are closing for the season this Sunday, April 8.
Last weekend, Ski Granby Ranch, Sunlight Ski Area and Wolf Creek officially shut down their lifts for the season.
But those three were not the first ones to close in Colorado. Hesperus Ski Area in Durango closed more than a month ago due to lack of snow.
Check out the closing days for other ski resorts across Colorado in the list below:
- Arapahoe Basin June 3, 2018
- Aspen Mountain April 15, 2018
- Copper Mountain April 15, 2018
- Echo Mountain April 15, 2018
- Eldora April 15, 2018
- Loveland May 6, 2018
- Powderhorn March 25, 2018
- Purgatory April 15, 2018
- Snowmass April 15, 2018
- Steamboat April 15, 2018
- Winter Park April 22, 2018
A lackluster ski season in Colorado
The latest snowpack data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service shows the state’s snowpack is at just 66 percent of normal as of Friday, and that it could have already peaked, despite the normal snowpack peak coming on April 9, on average.
It also shows that the snowpack is at just 60 percent of the level it was at on the same day last year, and that it is about in line with where it was at in 2015, when the state was hit by among the worst wildfire seasons in recent years.
The state would need over 14,000 percent of its normal precipitation now to reach normal peak levels, according to the data.
Nearly 24 percent of the state is under extreme drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data. The worst drought in Colorado is seen in the southern and southwest portions of the state.
The low snowpack and snow-water equivalents are causing some concerns about water for the springs and summer months, as about 80 percent of the state’s water is used for agricultural purposes and irrigation.
