Mother Nature’s water storage tank — aka the snowpack — is a massive frozen reservoir that parses out water in the spring as snow melts. It is also, literally, the foundation of the snowsports recreation industry. Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that climate change is negatively impacting snowpack in Colorado and nationwide.

Two-time Olympic freestyle skier and a former wide receiver for the Buffs, Jeremy Bloom (A&S ex’06) was one of the first celebrities to be featured in a public service announcement (PSA) for . Spearheaded by the nonprofit (and launched in partnership with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis), the year-long initiative is designed to educate Coloradans about water as an important natural resource. 

“Water conservation in the context of climate change is central to the mission of Water ’22,” said Jayla Poppleton, executive director of Water Education Colorado. “Jeremy is a skier born and raised in Colorado; we knew he would get it right away.” 

“I grew up learning to ski in Colorado and water-skiing on Boyd Lake,” Bloom said. “When the governor’s office approached me to be the face of Water ’22, I knew this was a really important thing to do.” 

, Bloom encourages Coloradans to do their part. “It’s shortening your shower, doing full loads of laundry and watering your lawn at night,” he said. 

These simple actions can add up to saving 22 gallons of water a day — and a whopping 48 billion gallons across Colorado a year. Colorado is a headwater state that supplies water not only to the 6 million people who live here, but to tens of millions more people in the 18 states downstream.

“Water is fundamental to everything that makes life possible,” Poppleton said. 

A declining snowpack affects the water supply for drinking, sanitation, agriculture and hydropower production. A shrinking snowpack also affects winter recreation. 

on climate change and winter recreation published in the journal Global Environmental Change, researchers — including Eric E. Small, CU professor of geological sciences — projected that by 2050, the ski season will be cut in half for most U.S. winter recreation destinations, resulting in an annual loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. 

“If people who care about skiing and snowboarding are committed to preserving our snowpack, that’s not only going to benefit the ski industry but ultimately help preserve the most fundamental source of our water supply — snow,” Poppleton said. 

Snow-covered ski trails, from black diamond chutes to meandering green circles, are an immense natural water storage system. 

Colorado is a headwater state that supplies water not only to the 6 million people who live here, but to tens of millions more people in the 18 states downstream.

“The snowpack acts as a reservoir; it banks water,” said W.T. “Tad” Pfeffer, professor of civil engineering at CU Boulder and a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), whose area of specialty is glaciology. “If all that snow fell as rain, it would just run off into the rivers.”

Pfeffer points to the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment, which predicts that Colorado and the West will be hotter and drier. That means more wildfires and less water. 

“Intensified droughts and earlier runoff from diminished snowpack will increase water scarcity during the summer peak water demand period,” the report warned. 

“For the ski industry, climate change is no longer an intangible future issue,” Pfeffer said.

Snowpack declines are already happening. From 1955 to 2022, the April snowpack in the Western U.S. declined by 23%, with declines at 93% of sites measured, according to a by the EPA. The report described snowpack decreases as “large and consistent.” 

“The snowpack is responding to climate warming in a relatively dramatic way,” said Noah Molotch (EnvSt’97), associate professor of geography and an INSTAAR fellow who specializes in snow hydrology. “We’re seeing more storms fall as rain instead of snow, and we’re seeing more melt occur in the middle of winter between storm cycles.” 

In 2021, Molotch co-authored published in the journal Nature Climate Change that focused on snowmelt trends as a critical indicator of hydrological change. Researchers analyzed data from 1,065 remote snowpack monitoring stations in western North America. They found that the “snowmelt signal” is widespread across the West, including in Colorado. The research showed the annual melt that occurs before April 1 is increasing by 3.5% per decade.

“Climate sensitivity is greatest around the freezing point. When temperatures are hovering around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, we’ll see more snowmelt, particularly between storm periods,” Molotch said. 

As the snowpack decreases due to climate change, ski resorts need to use more water for snowmaking. 

“The water issue is a double whammy,” said Molotch, but he says access to water is not the primary stressor. “The big issue is that climate warming is causing a change in the snow conditions that resorts rely on. There are very sound first principles in science that would lead us to hypothesize that climate warming would diminish the quality of skiing.” 

Snow has multiple climate sensitivities. As temperatures get warmer, the density of new snow becomes higher. It becomes less fluffy. 

“Powder hounds beware, right?” he said. And those increasing levels of snowmelt identified in Molotch’s study mean the quality of the snow in the shoulder seasons is also in peril. 

In Colorado, snow-related recreation contributes $1.2 billion to the state’s economy; at the national level, it’s a $4.7 billion economic driver, according to the . A shrinking snowpack means shorter seasons, which will impact a ski area’s revenue but also the livelihood of workers, from the dishwashers to the lift operators. A (POW) — a nonprofit that works with CU scientists — found that changes to the winter season driven by climate change cost the ski resort industry approximately $1.07 billion in aggregated revenue over the last decade. The research also showed that a low snow year can cost the industry 17,400 jobs compared to an average season.  

“I think we’ve all been seeing the seasons getting shorter. Now, we’re lucky if we have a couple good trails by Thanksgiving,” said Bloom, who lives in Boulder with his wife, Mariah Buzolin. They have a toddler, a baby on the way and a place in Keystone, so protecting water for future generations is top of mind. 

As soon as they’re old enough, he’ll teach his kids to ski — and to conserve water.

Jeremy Bloom PSA: 

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I4GUrF6ZbE]

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Illustrations by Curt Merlo 

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As the sun sets over CU Boulder’s campus, we admire the snow-covered rooftops with the Flatirons behind this beautiful sunset photographed by Gavin Crowson (MedPro'25). In January and February, Boulder saw a total of of snowfall, with more in the forecast as the winter proceeds. 

During one snowstorm this January, students took part in a on Farrand Field. Do you have snow-related memories on campus? We want to hear them. Email us at editor@colorado.edu. 

Photo by Gavin Crowson

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When you have views like these, temperatures don't matter. Campus experienced a major cold front the first week of Febrary. On Feb. 5, the high was only 12 degrees. Follow for more frosty photos. 

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Do you remember your first CU Boulder snowfall? 

Perhaps you collapsed into a snow angel on the business lawn or lobbed a snowball across Farrand Field. 

I remember admiring the Flatirons from Norlin Quad my freshman year, mesmerized by the way the snow looked like frosting spread across the rock faces.

For my CU-transfer husband, Levi Henry (Math’12), his first snow was less than serene: Confined to a bus creeping along an icy U.S. 36, he was late for his first-ever class. 

But, perhaps, we all can recall racing to our window after a storm to see if — maybe — the school would call a snow day. 

As our infographic shows on page 33, campus snow removal is huge work. More than 100 people can be involved, sometimes beginning at 2 a.m.

It’s an effort I’m grateful for as I walk through campus this especially snowy winter. And more than 11 years later, I still sneak a peek at the Flatirons. Their frosty allure remains. 

Christie Sounart (���dzܰ�’12)

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Record-breaking Colorado summer heat, including the hottest temperature ever recorded in the state — 115 degrees on July 20 — didn’t delay winter at CU. Boulder saw more than 26 inches of snow in October and nearly 30 in November, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Campus snow removal is a major effort: The chancellor’s office, facilities management, parking services, housing and dining, campus building services, athletics and the City of Boulder are all involved, sometimes beginning as early as 2 a.m. Here’s a look at what it takes.

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The University of Colorado Boulder community woke up to a wintery wonderland Monday, Nov. 12. According to the National Weather Service, some parts of Boulder accumulated more than 10 inches of snow. The sun returned by mid-morning. Here, students hustle by the Old Main building on their way to class.

Photo by Matthew Tyrie// University of Colorado Boulder

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Snowboarder Arielle Gold won a medal at the Olympics in February. This summer, you might see her around campus.

If it’s summertime, Arielle Gold (Psych’20) is living like a true Boulderite.  

She shares a house on The Hill with fellow students. She picks up shifts at a nearby smoothie shop, Rush Bowls, where she chats with customers and dines on as many peanut butter bowls as she pleases. She spends time with her horse, Sparky, during visits home to Steamboat Springs. And she keeps fit.

I didn’t want to have any regrets about holding back.”

This summer she also expects to take classes on campus at CU, a rare treat for the newly minted Olympic medalist. 

“I love sitting in a classroom and learning in person,” said Gold, 22, a globetrotting junior who’s completed most of her CU Boulder classes (and three years of high school) online, allowing her the flexibility to study, train and compete on the world stage.

A professional snowboarder since age 13, Gold already has invested nearly a decade of work in her craft. It paid off in February with a bronze medal in the women’s halfpipe competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She’s the university’s first current student to win an Olympic medal, one of 13 other Buff medal winners and among more than 85 Buffs to have competed in the Olympic Games. With three X Games medals — in 2013, 2016 and 2018 — and a 2013 World Championships gold medal, Gold’s bronze in Pyeongchang brought her a new sense of accomplishment. In the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, she’d dislocated her shoulder in a training run, promptly ending her shot at a medal before she could try for one.

Arielle Gold Fast Facts

Age: 22

Height: 5’4”

Sport: Snowboarding (halfpipe)

Olympic Medal: Bronze, Pyeongchang, 2018 

Top Pump-Up Song: “8 Mile” by Eminem 

Favorite Training Spot: Laax, Switzerland

Pre-Competition Ritual: Eat a full meal and listen to music  

Pre-Workout Meal: Oats with almond milk and almond butter

Favorite Trick: Michalchuk (pronounced “Mi-kal-chuck”), a slow halfpipe backflip 

Role Models: Fellow Olympians Taylor Gold (her brother) and gold medalist Kelly Clark

The injury, coupled with extreme emotional pressure, challenged her immensely for the next couple of years. With the help of a sports psychologist and a huge amount of training, she set her sights on the 2018 Olympics.  

“For the past year, 90 percent of my thought process was about snowboarding,” said Gold, who grew up in Steamboat and lives there part-time in the off-season. “I was visualizing everything and doing everything I could physically and mentally to be ready.” 

 In Pyeongchang, winning a place on the podium came down to the last of three runs. She’d fallen on the first and earned a low score on the second. In between, Gold called her brother from the mountain to vent and refocus. Taylor Gold, also a professional snowboarder, was watching from Colorado.

“I mostly just told her how good her riding was looking, and any small adjustments or ideas I thought could help her put her run down,” said Taylor, 24, who competed in the 2014 Olympics in the halfpipe. 

During her final run, Gold blasted Eminem's “8 Mile” and threw down an early 1080, a tough three-rotation trick she’d only landed about a dozen times.

“I tried to think about laying it all out there,” she said. “Taylor said I just have to go for it — I didn’t want to have any regrets about holding back.”

After an excruciatingly long wait — 11 riders followed Gold’s final run — she emerged with the bronze. American Chloe Kim took gold and China’s Jiayu Liu silver. 

“When we knew she had actually won the bronze, my wife and I just collapsed in each other’s arms sobbing tears of joy for Arielle,” said Gold’s father, Ken Gold, who watched from the stands in Pyeongchang. “The fairytale actually came true.”

After the competition, an ecstatic Gold stayed in South Korea for about two weeks to watch the rest of the Olympics. One evening, she took five of the gold-medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey players to the slopes for some nighttime snowboarding. 

“For some of them it was their first time,” said Gold. “I told them they were better than I was my first time.” 

Soon after returning to the U.S., Gold dislocated her shoulder in her final competition of the season, the early-March Burton U.S. Open in Vail. She took it in stride, tweeting, “Dislocated my shoulder, bruised my sternum and destroyed all the nerves in my left butt cheek, but other than that we cool. #thriving.”

Gold plans to return to competition later this year with an eye on another Olympic appearance.

Ultimately, she aspires to become a veterinarian. 

I wanted to be a vet before I wanted to be a snowboarder.”

“I wanted to be a vet before I wanted to be a snowboarder,” she said.  

Gold, who rode her first horse at age 2, is most interested in equestrian medicine, but sees herself taking care of other animals, too, including her dream patient: A white tiger. 

“Tigers in general are some of my favorite animals because of how fierce they are,” she said. “I used to have a tiger jacket several years ago that I loved, then my dad bought me a newer one this winter that is closer to a white tiger. [It] makes me feel like I’m channeling the energy of a tiger!” 

When the time for snowboarding ends, the Colorado Buffalo might even try life as a Ram, should Gold make a match with Colorado State University’s renowned veterinary school.

“Arielle has always loved animals, all animals,” said her father. “She’s been particularly involved in rescuing dogs who are in kill shelters, and she’s fostered and found homes for 12 dogs, I believe, so far… I think her experience as an elite athlete, with all that is required to achieve those results, will serve her well in becoming a vet, and in being a great one.”

For now, Arielle is taking things one season at a time. Summer 2018 means Rush Bowls on The Hill, a psychology or writing class at CU, and, especially, downtime with her Boulder friends. 

Said Gold: “They knew me as a person before they knew me as a snowboarder.”

Photo by Getty Images/Cameron Spencer (top)/Courtesy Arielle Gold 

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Spring is right around the corner in Boulder. But, historically, March and April promise more snow for the campus in addition to the warmer weather. Here, a student walks across Varsity Bridge after a snow storm earlier this semester. 

Photo by Amanda Clark 

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Petra Hyncicova (IntPhys’18) finished 45th in the sprint classic qualification race and 47th in the 15K skiathlon at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.

Six Buffs competed in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, including bronze medal winner Arielle Gold&�Բ�����;(���ʰ�������’20).

A snowboarder and current CU student, Gold won her medal in the halfpipe at PyeongChang, South Korea, scoring 85.75 (on a 100 scale) on the last of three runs to earn the prize. She won despite a dislocated shoulder, initially injured at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

CU’s only medal winner at the most recent winter games, Gold has said she eventually hopes to attend veterinary school.

Casey Andringa (Bus’19) of the U.S. Olympic Freestyle Ski Team finished fifth in the men’s moguls event. It was the best finish for an U.S. male athlete in a moguls event since 2010. In 2014, Andringa was hospitalized for eight days in Germany for a serious infection near his eye socket that doctors feared would spread to his brain. His experience keeps him motivated, he said .

Originally from Milwaukee, Adringa now calls Boulder home. He is a member of the Vail Ski Club.

Competing for the Czech Republic, current CU skier Petra Hyncicova (IntPhys’18) finished 45th in the sprint classic qualification race and 47th in the 15K skiathlon. She was the defending NCAA Champion in both the classic and freestyle disciplines and in 2017 was named the women's Nordic National Skier of the year by the Ski Coaches Association and FasterSkier.com and the Women's Collegiate Athlete of the Year by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Brian Hansen (Mktg’17) competed for the U.S. in speed skating for the third time. He finished 15th in the 1,500 meters. From Glenview, Calif., Hansen had won a silver medal in the men’s team pursuit in the 2010 Winter Games. At the University of Colorado, Hansen was on the downhill skiing club and the mountain biking club.

Former CU women’s All-American Nordic skier Joanne Reid (Math’13; MTechMedSoc’17) placed 22nd with just one penalty in the women’s biathlon 15-kilometer individuals race. She also finished 86th in the 7.5K sprint biathlon (cross country skiing plus rifle shooting) for Team USA. Hyncicova and Reid are the 35th and 36th CU ski team members to make it to the Olympics.

Kendall Wesenberg (Mktg’12) finished 17th in the skeleton for Team USA. Wesenberg, of Modesto, Calif., became the first American woman to win the European Cup during 2014-15 season. Wesenberg played club soccer at CU.

Read more about CU Boulder Olympians in the Coloradan.

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On Jan. 22, the City of Boulder, , tweeted this snowy photo of Leeds and the Flatirons. Boulder received around 7 inches of snow on Jan. 21, the city's first large snowstorm since October. 

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