Klaus Wolter, a meteorologist affiliated with the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to promise a dry winter. In an article today in the Rocky Mountain News he says, “I think we should count our blessings. We got lucky” in regards to the amount of moisture the state has seen thus far.
According to Wolter, the La Nina weather pattern present in the Pacific will persist resulting in storms tracking north of our state. The good news though is that snowpack thus far is above normal statewide and even if their predictions bear out, we should be okay come summer. Here are the latest readings as of today:
S N O W - P R E C I P I T A T I O N U P D A T E Based on Mountain Data from NRCS SNOTEL Sites As of MONDAY: JANUARY 14 , 2008 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATE PERCENT OF AVERAGE RIVER BASIN Number Snow Water Accum of Sites Equivalent Precip -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLORADO GUNNISON RIVER BASIN ......................... 11 of 13 144 137 UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN ................... 27 of 29 119 124 SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN ..................... 15 of 15 105 101 LARAMIE AND NORTH PLATTE RIVER BASINS ........ 13 of 13 101 109 YAMPA AND WHITE RIVER BASINS ................. 17 of 19 102 111 ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN ......................... 5 of 9 141 124 UPPER RIO GRANDE BASIN ....................... 9 of 13 158 144 SAN MIGUEL, DOLORES, ANIMAS AND SAN JUAN RIVER BASINS ................. 14 of 16 153 135
We of course hope the forecasters are wrong just like they have been about the last two hurricane seasons!
The 2007 hurricane season officially ended on November 30th and in the Atlantic, a total of 14 named storms were produced, including six hurricanes, two of which became major hurricanes. The good news is that only one hurricane, one tropical storm and three tropical depressions struck the United States so we escaped relatively unscathed. This does however make one wonder about the accuracy of hurricane forecasts. This is the second year in a row that predictions indicated above normal activity when the opposite turned out to be true. 
An interesting article from USA Today today discusses the fact that despite the snow we have recently enjoyed, we can’t rule out drought in 2008. In part it says:
Unfortunately, historical trends don’t give us too good of a chance but there is always hope – remember last year? 
December is normally only our 4th snowiest month so we may not get a lot of relief. Current 30-day forecasts expect near normal temps but slightly below normal precipition. You can read more in our 
NOAA released its final 90 day winter forecast and little changed from earlier predictions. For Colorado that means the likelihood of warmer than normal temperatures, particularly in the southern part of the state. In terms of precipitation, they foresee equal chances for normal, above and below normal moisture while southern Colorado remains dry.
Klaus Wolter predicts that the La Nina pattern that seems to be setting in will drive the jet stream north thus causing Colorado to stay dry. He says, “”I am very concerned that Colorado … might see regions of drought develop by spring.” To read more, 
John Coleman let his feelings be known on a blog recently and made it clear he didn’t buy into the hype over man-made climate change. Among his comments:
This marks the second year in a row forecasters predicted above normal hurricane activity only to have it be the opposite. Despite the “sky is falling” predictions about how global warming is the cause of all sorts of disasters, including an increased threat of hurricanes, we find the opposite is actually occurring. For more information see