Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

This report is a synthesis of climate science relevant for management and planning for Colorado's water resources. It focuses on observed climate trends, climate modeling, and projections of temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and streamflow. Climate projections are reported for the mid-21st century because this time frame is the focus of adaptation strategies being developed by the State of Colorado and other water entities.

The current El Niño event is very strong, and is expected to affect weather around the globe, and in Colorado, through next spring. The impacts of El Niño are more complex over Colorado than other parts of the West. Strong El Niño conditions improve the odds for wetter-than-normal conditions in most parts of Colorado, especially in fall and spring. However, strong El Niño conditions also tend to bring dry mid-winters to our North-Central mountains....

Of the most costly natural hazards for which federal, state and local planners must prepare (like earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods), the impacts of drought have been the least well measured. Yet drought vulnerability and impacts drive drought response policy and there are weaknesses in our ability to judge vulnerability and impacts.

Compared to river basins such as the Colorado River, the Missouri River Basin has received relatively minimal federal engagement in terms of the provision of climate services. In order to effectively begin a coordinated, multi-agency effort to meet the climate-related needs of stakeholders throughout the basin, it is critical to identify those needs, catalog research and service capacities, map needs to capacities, and use social network analysis...