Meteorological winter just ended in Colorado. If you want to call it that.Because this winter wasn't just warm it was record-breaking.Those warm, dry conditions mean that even if we get more snow in spring which is itself not necessarily guaranteed southern Colorado is now set up for impacts that will last well beyond the winter season. Let's look at the numbers. In Colorado Springs, the average temperature from December 1st - February 28th was 38.1 degrees. That sets a new record.In Pueblo, it was the third-warmest winter with an average temperature of 38.5 degrees.According to Colorado State University professor and State Climatologist Russ Schumacher that trend held statewide."If it felt warm...that was real," Schumacher said."Statewide...it's going to go down as the warmest winter on record," he added.Even accounting for past warm winters in the Dust Bowl era, or the infamous winters in 1976-77 and 1980-81, many places in Colorado were warmer this year.It was also dry. Colorado Springs is one of the few places that did get meaningful snow though not in February. From December 1st - February 28th, Colorado Springs recorded 21.3" of snow, with 16.2" of that falling in December. This is above the long-term average of 14.1" for those three months. But the warm conditions have resulted in extra evaporation. If you think about the snowpack as a savings account, the atmosphere has been making extra withdrawals. And that, along with one of the worst snowpacks in Colorado's history, is not a good recipe."You get some rain in the winter...or snow that doesn't stick around very long, that does end up as stream flow in the rivers but it's not there at the time you need it," Schumacher said.Even with a turnaround now, we can't make up all the ground."Unfortunately, the deficits this year are so big that we would need record-breaking types of snowfall to fully resolve the drought situation that we're in," Schumacher explained.Despite the snow we've seen in Colorado Springs, southern Colorado is in fact the worst off in the entire state."The worst part of the state...the worst river basin is the Arkansas River basin...that ends up being the water that supplies Colorado Springs, Pueblo, much of southeastern Colorado," Schumacher said.Here's southern Colorado's snowpack graph, which is worse than the statewide graph. Even if we got the best snowfall that's ever been recorded in spring, we'd still end up with below-average peak snowpack. And that has consequences for nearly everyone."We're used to dealing with drought to some extent. We've had quite a few bad droughts in the last couple of decades. But the impacts are real. They're...they're there for water supply, for agriculture, for municipal use...you name it. You know, we're all water users in some way," Schumacher explained.So statewide and here in southern Colorado, we're now in a race against the calendar. The next 60 days are key. We need a very wet spring to avoid a significant water strain this summer. Keep doing your snow dances.____Have a question or story idea you would like the First Alert 5 Weather team to consider? Email: [email protected] KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching. ...read more read less