In Brief: Colorado snowpack at 76 percent statewide

The Natural Resources Conservation Service is reporting Colorado’s snowpack at 76 percent of average statewide. The new data, released Dec. 28, indicates that the Rio Grande River Basin is the only region in the state where snowpack stands at 100 percent of average. The new numbers underscore worry across the state that light or even average winter snows will do little to raise the state from a chronic drought pattern that has intensified during the past two years.