Colorado's snowpack is getting closer to normal after an unseasonably cool and wet April. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service said Monday that snow surveys on May 1 showed the statewide snowpack percentage climbed to 83 percent of the median, up from 74 percent on April 1.

Heading into April, Colorado water managers say snowfall the next few weeks would have to be more than twice of normal for the snowpack to reach the average peak snowpack, which typically happens April 8. A big swath of the high country is still classified as being in extreme drought.

With persistent drought conditions across Colorado and low reservoir levels in the southwest, water resource managers are looking at a potentially long and arid summer. Following a dry 2012, the warmest year on record, reservoir levels were already on the low side. Reservoir storage exactly one year ago sat at 104 percent of average, which helped the area get through late summer shortages.

When a wildfire suddenly broke out last Friday in Lory State Park, west of Fort Collins, Coloradans breathed an anxious, collective sigh: not again. The early season blaze stirred unpleasant memories of last year's trying fire season, which scorched about 385,000 acres in the state, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

Blue skies and warm afternoons might make for good spring skiing, but they don’t bode well for a healthy snowpack.  The snowpack has followed a similar trend this year as it did last year — seeing light conditions early in the winter followed by a healthy build-up of snow from late January through February.

Colorado faces a "pretty dismal" outlook in terms of snow pack and reservoir storage over the next three months, according to one of the presenters Thursday participating in the National Drought Early Warning Outlook in Washington, D.C.

A Drought not only dries up the land, but also the pocket book. During the Colorado State University (CSU) Extension 2013 Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference held this week in Monte Vista, CSU Agriculture and Resource Economics Professor James Pritchett shared results from a 2012 survey asking producers from around the state about their relatio

Southern Colorado ski area Monarch Mountain announced Friday it won't open as planned Wednesday because of a lack of snow. The ski area, which relies on natural powder, has received little snowfall this fall, like most of the Colorado high country. It's the second year in a row the area, popular among Colorado Springs skiers, won't be able to open by Thanksgiving as planned.

Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is urging farmers and the like to take advantage of newly allocated resources that will help the farming industry recover from the devastating drought and fire season.