The ski industry is getting more sobering news from the science community. A new report from the National Wildlife Federation says global warming is part of the reason for the unusual winter weather in the West. Climate scientist and report author Amanda Staudt says powder enthusiasts should be especially concerned.

Recent storms have boosted snowpack in southwest Colorado above average, but the statewide snowpack is still lagging. The Natural Resources Conservation Service says statewide snowpack was 87 percent of average as of Saturday. It was 108 percent of average in the San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan basin and 111 percent of average for the Upper Rio Grande basin in southwest Colorado.

This winter's extreme weather -- with heavy snowfall in some places and unusually low temperatures -- is in fact a sign of how climate change disrupts long-standing patterns, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation. It comes at a time when, despite a wealth of scientific evidence, the American public is increasingly skeptical that climate change is happening at all.

As of January 25, the snow-water equivalent totals for the Gunnison River Basin were at 97 percent of average, according to data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The Gunnison Basin stretches over 8,000 square miles of western Colorado, extending from the Continental Divide to the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers near Grand Junction.

Badly needed snowfall is expected in Colorado’s high country this week, but one expert says the state will need much more than the amount in the forecast to stave off drought on par with the one that marked the parched year of 2002, which saw reservoirs depleted to record-low levels and raging wildfires.

On Nov. 1, SNOTEL data indicated basin snowpacks were over 130 percent of average. Unfortunately, a poor showing during November resulted in a drop in snowpack percentages by Dec. 1 to a mere 65 percent of average.