Colorado's Loveland Ski Area tests snow guns ahead of ski season

Loveland Ski Area fired up its snow guns on Tuesday ahead of this year's ski and boarding season. The resort's trail maintenance and snowmaking teams were on the mountain conducting maintenance and testing snow guns.

This year marks 60 years since snowmaking began at the ski area. Small-scale snowmaking began at Loveland Ski Area in 1966 and the next year, 1967-68, Loveland became the first major ski area in Colorado with snowmaking capabilities. 

In order to make sure everything is working properly, crews ran water through the snowmaking system in addition to testing the equipment so that everything is ready when snowmaking conditions arrive. 

Loveland Ski Area said temperatures are still too warm to make snow.

The ski area typically begins making snow around the beginning of October, once temperatures and humidity "provide consistent favorable snowmaking conditions." Loveland is aiming for a mid-October to early-November opening, depending on weather conditions. 

This year, the latest fall outlook favors above-normal precipitation across the entire state from September through November.   

Over 90% of Colorado remains in a drought, with 76% of the state in a severe drought or worse. In fact, Colorado just finished with its 5th driest January-July since recordkeeping began in 1895, according to CBS Colorado's First Alert Meteorologist Joe Ruch. The latest seasonal drought outlook favors improvement across much of Colorado through November.

El Niño has been strengthening for months, but its impact on Colorado was much harder to find during the summer. Fall will be when that begins to change.

The latest outlook gives El Niño a greater than 90% chance of becoming very strong during the fall and winter. There is also a 69% chance it reaches a historic level from October through December.