{"id":13950,"date":"2025-12-30T23:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/warm-weather-boosts-fishing-hurts-skiing-and-water-reserves-in-southwest-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:42:41","slug":"warm-weather-boosts-fishing-hurts-skiing-and-water-reserves-in-southwest-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/warm-weather-boosts-fishing-hurts-skiing-and-water-reserves-in-southwest-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Warm weather boosts fishing, hurts skiing and water reserves in Southwest Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mountain
Mountain peaks are partially covered in snow on Dec. 29, as seen from Molas Pass south of Silverton. Snowpack is below normal, but there is still time to catch up, according to ranchers and weather managers. (Sean Beckwith\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

All it takes is a quick step outside to confirm that, so far, winter in La Plata County \u2013 and across much of Southwest Colorado \u2013 is unseasonably warm.<\/p>\n

Durango set record-breaking highs on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, when the temperature climbed to 60 degrees, 5 degrees warmer than previous records for those dates, according to in-town data from the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

The warm temperatures have been accompanied by a drier-than-normal December and scarce early season snowfall. While it has impacted and raised concerns across sectors like cattle ranchers, water management and tourism \u2013 sectors largely dependent on winter weather \u2013 no one is throwing out hope for a good winter.<\/p>\n

Mixed impact on outdoor recreation industry<\/div>\n

Local businesses have been impacted by the weather differently \u2013 good or bad, dependent on the seasonal recreation it sells.<\/p>\n

Scant snowfall is bad news for powder hounds, and bad business for ski shops that depend on winter recreation business.<\/p>\n

Revenue at Ski Barn is down roughly 25% this season, said owner Bill Brown. It\u2019s not great, and definitely nerve-wracking, Brown said, but still, he remains cautiously optimistic.<\/p>\n

A second shop he opened in Denver last year has helped offset slower sales in Durango, and holiday foot traffic locally has been stronger than expected given the conditions.<\/p>\n

Visitors from Texas who typically travel to Durango each December still made the trip this year, Brown said, even if they spent fewer days skiing than usual.<\/p>\n

Over the past few days, the shop has experienced the regular holiday rush, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it sucks. Yes, it\u2019s warm,\u201d Brown said. \u201cFive bikers just went past my location on north Main on the road, probably riding up to Purgatory. But it can change, and it can be a huge winter. I hope that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while ski-related businesses wait for snow, Durango\u2019s fishing industry has seen increased activity, as warmer temperatures keep rivers accessible later into the season.<\/p>\n

Cole Glenn, owner of The San Juan Angler, said his shop has booked more guided fishing trips than usual on account of the high temperatures. Many of the last-minute customers have ended up swapping ski days for fishing excursions after spending a day up at Purgatory skiing on sparsely covered runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely capitalized on it, and hope to continue,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cBut we need the moisture, so it\u2019s a love-hate thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If warm, dry conditions persist long-term, Glenn said, the outlook could shift. Low river levels and heightened wildfire risk would pose serious challenges for the fishing industry in future seasons.<\/p>\n

He also had some insight into the swarms of the small bugs, called midges, that have seemingly overrun the river trail: It\u2019s not that abnormal, he said.<\/p>\n

This time of year is one of the main hatching periods for the insect species, Glenn said. It takes them only a day to hatch once eggs are laid in the river, then they come off the water in big numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s happening more now because the weather is nice, but it\u2019ll happen on blizzard snow days when it\u2019s like 20 degrees out and it\u2019s cold and miserable, and you could still go down to the river and see midges hatching,\u201d he said. \u201cIt may not be as numerous, but they still will hatch every day, essentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Unseasonably
Unseasonably warm December temperatures, and almost no snowfall has caused uneven impacts across Durango\u2019s outdoor recreation industry, and only kept local ranchers\u2019 eyes on the forecast. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

City of Durango snowplow expenditures stay underbudget<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minimal snowfall so far this winter, on top of low snow totals at the end of last winter, is keeping the city of Durango\u2019s snowplow expenditures under budget.<\/p>\n

The city allocated just under $958,000 for salaries, equipment maintenance, materials, and contracted services related to snow removal for the 2025 year, city spokesman Tom Sluis said. The street department will finish the year roughly $171,000 under budget.<\/p>\n

During low\u2011snowfall years, the city can redirect remaining funds toward other operational maintenance projects with depleted funds, while still staying within the budget, he said.<\/p>\n

Ranchers watch snowpack<\/strong><\/div>\n

For the region\u2019s ranching community, winter precipitation is closely tied to long-term water security. Low snowpack can mean less water available once irrigation ditches reopen in the spring.<\/p>\n

Although the warm weather has limited snowfall so far, heavy rains in the fall helped replenish local reservoirs, providing some reassurance heading into summer, said Wayne Jefferies, president of the Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were behind the eight ball until September on our irrigation water,\u201d Jefferies said. \u201cWe thought we were going to have a dry year. We may still have a drier year, but those rains there at the end of September made a big difference on what\u2019s in the lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemon and Vallecito reservoirs are now nearly three-quarters full \u2013 a significant improvement from projections at the end of last summer.<\/p>\n

Still, Jefferies said a lack of snowfall remains concerning. If dry conditions persist into early 2026, reservoir levels alone may not be enough to offset reduced snowmelt.<\/p>\n

Ranchers \u2013 who often joke that they are \u201cgrass farmers\u201d \u2013 rely heavily on snowmelt to recharge underground moisture that supports healthy forage growth.<\/p>\n

Beneath the surface, soil and gravel layers act like a sponge, Jefferies said. Snowmelt is needed to saturate that sponge before irrigation water and rain can effectively reach grasses.<\/p>\n

Without sufficient snow and spring runoff, those underground layers remain dry, he said. When irrigation begins, much of the water is absorbed below ground, leaving less available for grasses to grow. The result can be weaker forage, reduced grazing capacity and added strain on ranching operations.<\/p>\n

Jefferies added this isn\u2019t new. Southwest Colorado has experienced persistent drought conditions for much of the past two decades, punctuated by only brief periods of relief.<\/p>\n

Water managers cautiously optimistic<\/div>\n

Water managers, meanwhile, are entering winter in a stronger position than usual thanks to the fall floods.<\/p>\n

The October flooding caused reservoirs to rise rapidly. Vallecito Reservoir, which stores water for the Pine River Irrigation District, rose 25 feet in just a few days, said Ken Beck, PRID superintendent.<\/p>\n

The surplus of water reserves after a dry summer is a good buffer for next year, and has eased the stress of relying solely on winter precipitation, Beck said, although water supply is always subject to some degree of uncertainty<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a better position than usual, but we aren\u2019t letting our guard down,\u201d Beck said. The district is managing releases carefully under a community agreement and monitoring forecasts closely as winter progresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would probably not be really candid or honest with you if I told you I wouldn\u2019t be some concerned about it (the warm winter weather),\u201d Beck said. \u201cBut boy, there\u2019s a lot of winter left. We\u2019ve got January, February, March. We get some of our biggest snowstorms in April. I\u2019m breathing a whole lot easier, and I\u2019m feeling a lot less stress having that extra water in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

jbowman@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to The San Juan Angler as San Juan Wranglers. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outdoor, tourism sectors feel effects of mild season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,994,414,88],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-trueanthem","tag-weather","tag-weather-news"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19246,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950\/revisions\/19246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13950"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}