Colorado
Water managers getting a birds-eye view of Colorado’s historically bad snowpack
DENVER — This winter and spring have produced Colorado’s worst snowpack on record, often measured via weather stations throughout the high country known as SNOpack TELemetry or SNOTEL stations.
Over the last few years, a new kind of complimentary measurement has been taking off — literally.
What started as a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab research project became Airborne Snow Observations (ASO), a company that flies small planes over the mountains to measure the snowpack. Starting in 2015, a joint effort with the state began to deploy the technology and put it to work.
Denver7 got a look at the technology last year.
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The planes use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems to measure the depth of the snowpack across an entire basin, as well as spectrometers that measure how reflective the snow is to determine how fast it is melting.
“The holistic perspective is an important one,” ASO Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jeffrey Deems said. “And by that I mean not just the full basin perspective on the snowpack, but how that snowpack evolves with our changing forests, the subsurface hydrology, soil moisture and groundwater. All of this adds up to what our managers and what we ultimately see in our rivers, behind our dams and in our reservoirs and in our taps.”
Through the Colorado Airborne Snow Measurement (CASM) program, ASO works with more than 100 water management partners ranging from small irrigation districts to large utilities like Denver Water. Deems said the more nuanced data helps those groups decide how to manage reservoirs or water restrictions.
Deems, who lives in Carbondale, said ASO’s flights cover 16 watersheds in Colorado.
“The full basin perspective is really showing us that there’s parts of the watershed that have more snow than others, and that information can really help managers on the ground anticipate what parts of their watershed or what diversion structures or what reservoirs are going to have better inflow versus other parts of the basin,” Deems explained. “That granularity can really help them out come operations time, now.
“The less [water] you have, the more you need to know about it,” he added.
Broader perspective ‘actually even more dire’
Deems said this year, ASO had to move flights up earlier than usual because the snowpack peaked early and began to rapidly melt. He said ASO did 18 survey flights in just one week in March.
ASO Inc.
Data from those flights show the huge drop off in snowpack this year compared to last.
- Watch the full story in the video player below.
Water managers getting a birds-eye view of CO’s historically bad snowpack
“In some cases, the full basin perspective is actually even more dire than what we’re seeing from the [SNOTEL] station network this time of year,” Deems said. “With early melt, those stations are still protected in their little forest pockets and aren’t melting as fast as the more open areas. So we’re seeing perhaps faster declines in the snowpack, and less overall than the stations would indicate in some areas.”
“In other basins, we’re seeing that there’s still a good bit of high elevation snow up there, similar to last year. So not that last year was a huge runoff year, but in some parts of the watersheds, not quite as dire,” he added.
The airborne observation technology is gaining more continuity in the state, with the CASM network expanding.
“And then just last year, a brand new program within the Colorado Water Conservation Board really takes that stakeholder-led effort and creates a state program,” Deems explained. “Having that background of a lot of years of working with these data in different parts of the state really helps with that confidence moving forward, so that folks know how to apply it and how to look to these data in times of crisis, like right now.”
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Colorado
Julian Lewis Says Deion Sanders’ Colorado ‘Wasn’t Really Looking at Defenses Much’ Last Season
Colorado quarterback Julian Lewis made a stunning admission that could explain the team’s 3-9 finish to the 2025 season.
While speaking to ESPNU at Big 12 media days, Lewis was asked what the biggest difference was between last year and this year, and he revealed that the Deion Sanders-coached Buffaloes typically didn’t watch film during his first season with the team.
“My play, I’m actually looking at the defenses now,” Lewis said. “Last year, we wasn’t really looking at defenses much, just kind of high school free-balling, just out there playing football. But it’s a lot bigger than that now, so it should be fun.”
Before taking a redshirt year, Lewis played in four games as a true freshman with two starts and threw for 589 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 55.3 percent of his passes. He should fare even better this season with the benefit of film study.
Lewis will enter the 2026 campaign as Colorado’s starting quarterback, so he will have the opportunity to show his improvements when the Buffaloes open the year against Georgia Tech on Sept. 3.
State and federal agencies are starting to reopen public lands, state wildlife areas and a segment of the Colorado River that were closed in light of the Snyder Fire in Mesa County.
Stage 2 fire restrictions — banning all open fire or flames, including charcoal grills and wood-burning stoves — remain in effect as extreme fire danger, spurred on by hot and dry conditions, persists across the region.
The Snyder Fire started on Friday, June 26, when several smaller fires burning on the Colorado-Utah border combined. As of July 7, the fire was 98% contained after burning over 30,200 acres and killing three wildland firefighters.
With fire activity decreasing and containment increasing, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management shared their plans Tuesday to reopen lands impacted by the wildfire.
Parks and Wildlife said in a news release that it, alongside the Bureau of Land Management, had lifted the closure for public access and downstream recreation on the Colorado River, starting at the James M. Robb-Colorado River State Park in Fruita and extending to the Utah state line. It also reopened the boat ramp at the Fruita section of the James M. Robb-Colorado River State Park in Fruita to downstream traffic.
The state agency’s Horsethief State Wildlife Area in Fruita and the Loma Boat Launch State Wildlife Area also reopened.
The BLM said in a news release that all lands within the perimeter of the Snyder Fire burn area remain closed to ensure public and firefighter safety.
“The burned landscape — including vegetation — remains dynamic and unpredictable as it naturally recovers from the fire impacts. This order is effective immediately and will remain in effect until the order is rescinded,” the BLM said.
Both agencies also warned that fire danger remains extremely elevated and Stage 2 fire restrictions are in place.
A map of current federal and state fire restrictions is available on the Rocky Mountain Area Interagency Fire Restriction Dashboard or by visiting DFPC.Colorado.Gov/sections/wildfire-information-center. The Colorado Trails Explorer (or COTREX) app also has wildfire closure alerts.
Under current conditions, Parks and Wildlife advised the following actions to prevent sparking wildfires:
- Use established rings: Where permitted, only build campfires inside permanent metal fire rings in designated campgrounds.
- Clear nearby debris: Remove all dry grass, leaves and pine needles within a 10-foot radius of any flame.
- Drown and stir: Extinguish fires completely with water, stir the ashes, and ensure the debris is cold to the touch.
- Watch campfires constantly: Never leave a fire or portable stove unattended. If you see an unattended fire, call 911.
- Keep vehicles off brush: Avoid parking or idling cars on tall, dry grass where hot exhaust systems can ignite a fire.
- Secure towing equipment: Ensure trailer safety chains do not drag and spark against asphalt. Check them at every stop.
The BLM added that under its Stage 2 restrictions, smoking is prohibited except in an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.
Gas-powered stoves or grills with a shut-off valve are still allowed in cleared areas under this stage.
Violating Stage 2 fire restrictions by lighting a campfire is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Violators face an immediate citation, a mandatory court appearance, steep fines and potential jail time. Additionally, you can be held financially liable for all fire suppression costs and property damage if the campfire sparks a wildfire.
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