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Correction, published in the issue that followed

We wrote: “The mountains are bare -- all 118 snow stations read zero, which is exactly what late summer should look like.”

Not all of them. Twenty of the 118 SNOTEL stations were reporting a trace of snow on the ground that morning, 0.3 inches of water at most. What was zero everywhere was the usual amount for the date -- the 1991-2020 median -- and our sentence described the median as if it were the ground.

Source: NRCS AWDB readings for 2026-09-07 as cached by the site at 11:40 UTC on 2026-09-08 (web/var/snow/snow.json): 20 sites with SWE above zero, maximum 0.3 in, every site's median 0.

A 3rd-driest week on the White River near Meeker
Hydrohistorian
State of the Call — draft, 2026-09-08
1863
the oldest claim on this river, and it is short (163 years in line)
In the news
Denver Gazette · 2026-09-06

The question underneath this story is one people ask about every dry river in Colorado: the town owns water rights, so how is the town out of water? Because a water right is not a promise of water. It is a place in a queue. Colorado sorts everyone who wants water out of a river by the date they first claimed it, and when there is not enough to go round, the newest claims stop first and the oldest keep taking. It is a fair way to divide a shortage. It has never been a way to end one -- no rule has ever made a river bigger. On the Cucharas you can now watch that reach the very front of the queue, which is the part people rarely see.

What our record adds
Somebody on the Cucharas River at Boyd Ranch near La Veta holds a claim to this water from 1863, older than Colorado itself -- and this week they have had to ask the state to shut off everyone who came later. (Water people call that "putting a call on the river".) Nobody does that while their own water is arriving. So the oldest claim on this river is the one coming up short. And 1192 newer claims are queued up behind one that is not being filled either. see the record
Line this week up against the same week in each of the last 87 years on the Cucharas River at Boyd Ranch near La Veta, and only 1 came in lower. see the record
Add up everything anyone is legally allowed to take out of the Cucharas River at Boyd Ranch near La Veta: 99.8% of it belongs to claims too new to take a drop this week. That share has never been higher in this week of the year, in 21 years of state records. see the record
The last time this week of the year ran this low on the Cucharas River at Boyd Ranch near La Veta was 2018. see the record

New to this? what it means to shut a river off  ·  why water goes by date, not by need

Two honest notes about our own numbers. Nobody with local expertise has yet checked our map of which creek here feeds which -- the readings and the shutoff records above are the state's, but the map around them is ours and unreviewed. And for this part of Colorado the state's records do not say how far up or down the river a shutoff reaches, so we match it to the whole district rather than to the exact stretch of water.

The White River near Meeker is having its 3rd-driest week in 122 years of record. It is not alone: the Roaring Fork River at Glenwood Springs (3rd-driest in 119 years), the Arkansas River at La Junta (2nd-driest in 115 years), the Saguache Creek near Saguache (2nd-driest in 115 years), the Uncompahgre River at Colona (3rd-driest in 114 years) and the Surface Creek at Cedaredge (3rd-driest in 109 years) and 13 more are close behind.

The record behind that: The White River near Meeker

The oldest right calling this week dates to 1860: on the Clear Creek, every right younger than 166 years is waiting behind it. That is prior appropriation working exactly as written, a century and a half later.
Almanac: the driest this calendar week has ever run on the Cache La Poudre at Canyon Mouth near Fort Collins was 2000 -- a week the gage still holds at the bottom of 145 years of measurements.
Still true from last week
The Arkansas River at Canon City — 137 years of record, none this dry
The Saint Vrain Creek at Lyons — 131 years of record, none this dry
The Arkansas River at Salida — 117 years of record, none this dry
The Eagle River at Red Cliff — 97 years of record, none this dry
The Tomichi Creek at Gunnison — 89 years of record, none this dry
The Piney River near State Bridge — 83 years of record, none this dry
The South Boulder Creek near Eldorado Springs — 2nd driest week in 129 years
The Rio Grande at Embudo — 3rd driest week in 128 years
150 rivers under call this week
New this week (12)
Bear Creek, at Harriman Ditch — a 1861 right doing the calling
Boulder Creek, at Boulder Weld Cty Ditch — a 1861 right doing the calling
Saint Vrain Creek, at Bonus Ditch — a 1862 right doing the calling
South Platte River, at Western Mutual Ditch — a 1871 right doing the calling
Arkansas River, at Bessemer Ditch — a 1867 right doing the calling
Arkansas River, at Rocky Ford Highline — a 1869 right doing the calling
Arkansas River, at Rocky Ford Ditch — a 1874 right doing the calling
Arkansas River, at Lamar Canal — a 1884 right doing the calling
The season
All 118 snow stations read zero — exactly what late summer should look like.

Last winter was thin, though: the final runoff outlooks landed at a median 26% of normal across the mountain districts.

Court windows closing
23 new water-court applications (2026-08 resumes) can still be opposed until 2026-10-31 -- 53 days, if one of them moves water near you
51 new water-court applications (2026-07 resumes) can still be opposed until 2026-09-30 -- 22 days, if one of them moves water near you

Deadlines computed under C.R.S. 37-92-302(3); confirm with the water clerk.

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