VIDEO: Western Colorado is experiencing low snowpack levels that could lead to another busy wildfire season, prompting local agencies to prepare early for potential emergencies.
First Alert chief meteorologist Stephen Bowers said current snowpack levels are well below normal across Colorado’s mountains. Northern mountains that should have around 10 feet of snow are seeing about 5 feet, while central and southern mountains have 2 feet or less when they should have 5 to 6 feet. “It doesn’t look good,” Bowers said. “Without the snowfall, we don’t get that good soaking of the ground that we so desperately need that would help to tame the wildfire season.”
According to Bowers, the average snowfall in January is 5.6 inches, but this month’s levels are only 0.1 inch. The American Red Cross’s Western Colorado chapter stayed busy during summer 2025 after dozens of wildfires burned hundreds of thousands of acres across the region. “We’re 21 counties, so we had about 41 fires kind of burning at one point or time,” said Christie Castor, executive director of the Western Colorado chapter.
Castor said low snow levels have their team — 90% of whom are volunteers — preparing early for a potentially busy season in 2026.
She said last summer taught their team the importance of strengthening relationships with emergency responders and keeping their volunteer-based team trained and ready. “We rely on our community and the communities in western Colorado to respond when there is a wildfire or another disaster as well,” Castor said. “And so really working on making sure that we’re training as many people in the community as possible.”
As they prepare, Bowers and Castor shared what residents of the Grand Valley and western Colorado counties can do to prepare themselves. Bowers encourages residents to begin clearing vegetation from their properties as an extra layer of protection. “Shrubs or trees, any kind of vegetation that can catch fire easily, that’s near your home, go ahead and start trimming that back,” Bowers said. “This is something we can go ahead and start working on between now and then. And hopefully we can at least ease the wildfire risk.”
