But temperatures are not the only reason this winter is a catastrophe. This year, our snowpack is among the lowest ever measured, which means it won’t be enough to fill the rivers that are born in our mountains, which feed  reservoirs and water farms from here to Los Angeles. Snow is finally coming to the mountains this week, but we still cannot avoid one of the worst water years in modern history. The West is already experiencing the worst drought we have seen in 1,200 years, as our junior senator, John Hickenlooper, reminded me in an email over the weekend. Colorado politicians have to be attuned to these dynamics: “The snowpack is pretty much as large as all of our reservoirs combined. That’s why winters like this one are so terrifying,” he wrote. Drought can mean economic disaster.