In a striking start to the winter season, a powerful early-November snowstorm blanketed Colorado and northeastern New Mexico, depositing feet of snow that significantly boosted the region's snowpack.
The snowstorm, captured in satellite images released by the NASA Earth Observatory on Wednesday, swept through from November 5 to 9, covering not only the high Rockies but also the Great Plains, where snowfall totals shattered monthly averages for some areas.
The imagery, captured on November 10 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the NOAA-20 satellite, showcases the widespread snow cover stretching across eastern Colorado and New Mexico.
An impressive white expanse is visible across the Plains, with a dense coating of snow draping the mountainous regions to the west.
While snow in early November is not unusual in the high elevations of the Rockies, the volume of snowfall on the Plains has been especially noteworthy this year.
The storm hit Denver hard, delivering the season's first snowfall to the city and dropping an impressive 20 inches. This made it the 11th largest snowstorm on record for the city, according to the National Weather Service, which has tracked snow totals since 1882.
The heavy snowfall disrupted daily life, with over 75,000 residents—primarily in the Denver metro area—facing power outages at the storm's peak, according to Colorado Public Radio.
The storm also hit parts of northeastern New Mexico, with snowfall totals reaching as much as 40 inches in Sapello, about 40 miles east of Santa Fe, as well as in Nevada's Las Vegas.
The record-breaking early-season storm briefly shut down major highways but also created ideal conditions for the region's ski areas, allowing some to open ahead of schedule.
In Breckenridge, a popular ski town located about 50 miles west-southwest of Denver, snowfall totals reached up to 24 inches.
The recent snowpack accumulation is more than just scenic, however—it also serves as a critical water reserve.
The snowpack in several places, as measured by snow water equivalent, was recorded at more than double the average for early November, according to recent data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
This could help relieve parts of Colorado, which entered November with nearly one-third of the state experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Snow in the Rocky Mountains feeds vital water sources such as the Colorado River, which serves some 40 million people across the U.S. and Mexico.
Although it's uncertain how much relief this storm will ultimately bring to the region's drought conditions, the snowpack provides an essential water source that will help supply the area throughout the year.
However, it's uncertain how much relief this storm will ultimately bring to the troubled river and its reservoirs, Lakes Mead and Powell.
"It really isn't until early January that we have a sense of where snowpack is going, and even then things can change," Eric Balken, executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute, previously told Newsweek.
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