Top 5 most-read stories last week

Stories in this list received the most page views on aspentimes.com from April 20 – April 27:

1. Can a Super El Niño save Colorado from deepening drought conditions? 

Not even a Super El Niño — which climatologists say is likely to develop this summer — could undo the damage in Colorado after a historically low snowpack. It may, however, offer a glimmer of hope that relief is on its way. 

“Overall, between the very low snowpack and the warm, dry winter and start to spring …. we are in drought conditions across basically the entire state, and they, at this time, are worsening,” said Peter Goble, the assistant state climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center, said at the monthly Colorado Water Conditions Monitoring Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 21. “But this is probably the most optimistic seasonal outlook that I’ve been able to give on one of these calls in quite some time.” 

El Niño and its inverse La Niña are two phases of a climate cycle related to abnormal changes in ocean temperature. When temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean are warmer than average, it results in El Niño conditions. When temperatures are cooler than average, La Niña is the result. The ocean temperatures can drive different weather patterns across the world. Historically, El Niño conditions bring wetter summers and falls but drier than normal winters in the Northern Rockies. 

— Ali Longwell 

2. Former Aspen One employees purchase abandoned mine to destroy leaking methane

Former Aspen One Senior Vice President of Sustainability Auden Schendler has partnered with former Aspen Skiing Company CFO Matt Jones, as well as Founder of Delta Brick & Climate Company and former Faculty at the Colorado School of Mines Christopher Caskey, to purchase an abandoned mine in Paonia and destroy the methane leaking out of it.

Methane is what Schendler calls “a super potent greenhouse gas” or a “super pollutant” that’s roughly about 84 times as intense as CO2. It’s particularly associated with underground coal mines, although it’s leaking out of the Earth across the country and the globe.

“This is a very destructive gas and your first goal should be destroying it,” Schendler said.

— River Stingray 

3. Living the dream(ery) in Aspen

When you approach the Aspen Dreamery, it’s more than just an ice cream truck.

It’s an elevated experience of nostalgia, luxury and handcrafted desserts envisioned by Megan Thomas, who found inspiration for her small business in the idea of living the Aspen dream.

“I took my dream, and the idea of living the Aspen dream, and then played off the word ‘creamery’ — making it into the Dreamery,” Thomas said, who’s been a local in the valley for over two decades.

— River Stingray 

4. Roaring Fork watershed’s low snowpack runoff will change fishing, rafting this summer

Matthew Anderson didn’t mince words about the snow from this past winter.

“The winter was quite bad,” said the water quality technician with Roaring Fork Conservancy in Basalt. “Record-breakingly bad.”

Throughout Colorado this past winter season, ski areas experienced low snow totals; many of them closed earlier than projected. Bookings were down. Snowpack was measurably depleted.

Peak snowpack, Anderson said, is one of the touchstones the nonprofit examines most closely — both the amount of snow and the timing of it. Data from nine SNOTEL sites in the higher elevation areas of the Roaring Fork watershed is collected and then averaged.

“This year,” he explained, “peak SWE was 9.3 inches, and that occurred on March 10. When we look back, the median peak SWE — meaning just the average — is typically on April 7 at 17.1 inches.”

— Jonathan Bowers 

5. PHOTOS: Summer vibes are high as Aspen Mountain’s ski season ends

Despite unseasonably warm temperatures and a lack of snow this winter, Aspen Mountain found a way to make it to its originally scheduled closing day.

While Buttermilk, Highlands and Snowmass all closed up shop early due to the conditions, Ajax shut it down on Sunday with its annual closing day party from the Sundeck. Even with terrain limited to the upper portion of the mountain, the summer stoke was only fueled by the sunny weather.

— Austin Colbert