All 6 on board private jet presumed dead after crash during takeoff at Maine airport: Police

(NEW YORK) — It has been a tale of two winters on the opposing U.S. coasts this season.

While the East has been slammed with frigid temperatures and punishing winter storms, the West is experiencing a snow drought amid warmer-than-normal temperatures.

Prolonged drought across much of the West has been worsened this winter by below‑average snowfall and persistent warmth, fueling a widespread and intensifying snow drought. With sharply reduced mountain snowpack, the region’s water supplies and winter tourism are facing mounting challenges, experts told ABC News.

“This winter, we’ve just had an extreme lack of storm activity, and the storms that we have had have either brought very small amounts of snowfall or have brought rain,” Jon Meyer, assistant Utah state climatologist, told ABC News.

Warm temperatures have prevented snow from accumulating

Much of the western United States entered winter already grappling with a lack of rain. Widespread moderate to severe drought conditions stretched from New Mexico to Washington, including much of the Colorado River Basin, leaving soil moisture low and reservoir levels depleted heading into the season.

More than one-third of the West is currently facing some form of drought condition, with much of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico experiencing a moderate drought or worse, according to the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center’s U.S. Drought Monitor.

Utah is facing the worst drought conditions among western states, with more than 94% of the state experiencing what the USDM categorizes as a Moderate Drought and more than 40% of the state experiencing Severe Drought.

Salt Lake City has only received a tenth of an inch of snow so far this season – the lowest to date since records began in 1874, according to the National Weather Service. Their lowest seasonal snowfall was 14.3 inches during the winter of 1933-34. By comparison, parts of the Southeast, which typically don’t see much snowfall, have seen more snow than Salt Lake City this season.

“Just totally uncharted territory for the amount of low-elevation and mid-elevation snowfall Utah has seen, and that’s a pattern that’s played out across much of the Western U.S.,” Meyer said.

While many western states received average or above-average precipitation in the fall and early winter, warmer temperatures caused much of it to fall as rain rather than snow, leading to unusually low snowpack and a rapidly developing snow drought.

“If you look at most of the West, it’s at or above average, with regards to precipitation to date,” Eric Sproles, an associate professor of earth sciences at Montana State University, told ABC News. “But if you look at the the amount of water that’s stored in the snow pack is, it’s pretty bleak.”

Meteorological winter, which begins in the U.S. on December 1, kicked off with record warmth across much of the West. December 2025 was the warmest December on record for cities including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Nine western states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming – recorded their warmest December on record. For the winter season to date, Colorado is currently experiencing its warmest winter since 1934, while Utah is experiencing its warmest winter on record, according to NOAA.

The snow drought is threatening water supplies

Drought on its own already stresses water supplies, agriculture and ecosystems. But when winter fails to deliver significant mountain snow, the resulting snow drought – a period of abnormally little snowpack for the time of year – can intensify those impacts, according to NOAA.

The snowpack typically acts as a natural water reservoir. However, without an adequate snowpack to slowly release water through the spring and summer snow melt, rivers run lower, soils dry out earlier, and drought conditions can deepen and linger.

Melting snow provides a slow release of the water into reservoirs and dams but also recharges ground water as well, Sproles said: “That slow, steady release is important. The snowpack is kind of like a savings account.”

In Utah, the snow water equivalent – meaning how much water is in the snowpack – is currently at only 55% of its median, which is the lowest snow water equivalent to date. Moreover, only a quarter of the state has seen a ground snow cover depth of at least 1 inch.

Colorado and Oregon are also reporting their lowest snow water equivalents to date, with Montana approaching its lowest snow water equivalent to date.

In much of the West, snowmelt provides a large percentage of the water used by communities, agriculture, and ecosystems; in some states, up to about 75 percent of the water supply can come from melting snow, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As such, the snow water equivalent is a vital measure of the region’s water resources.

According to NOAA, a persistent snow drought can trigger a cascade of hydrologic changes. Low snowpack and early snowmelt can affect vegetation, reduce surface and subsurface water storage and alter streamflow, all of which directly impact water management and planning across the West.

While soil moisture in not currently a concern, it could dry out over the next couple of months, according to Meyer.

“We’ve become critically reliant on soil moisture observations for drought monitoring and predictions,” Meyer said.

The reservoirs along the Colorado River are especially threatened, the experts said. Major reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin remain well below average, according to latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). As of early February, Lake Powell, in southern Utah and northern Arizona, was about 26 % full, while Lake Mead – the nation’s largest reservoir by volume, located in Arizona and Nevada – was about 34% full.

Total storage in the Colorado River system, which provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven western states, was roughly 37% of capacity, down from about 42% at the same time last year, according to the USBR, which has flagged 13 reservoirs, the majority located in the West, for having the lowest observed water storage levels for the current time period.

The Colorado River system also serves as a vital resource for 30 tribal nations, sustaining 5.5 million acres of farmland and agricultural communities throughout the West, while also supporting critical ecosystems and protecting endangered species, the USBR said.

Winter sports have been impacted by lack of snow

The snow drought is also impacting local economies that rely on winter sports, an industry that contributes $20 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to The Climate Reality Project.

“The resort winter tourism is a huge economic backbone for many of these mountain resort communities,” Marcene Mitchell, senior vice president for climate change for the World Wildlife Fund, told ABC News. “And so as they lose their snowfall, they also lose these revenue.”

Vail Resorts, a Colorado-based company that owns and operates some of the largest ski resorts in North America, reported in January that skier visits to its North American resorts were down about 20% through Jan. 4, compared to the same period last year. The company issued the update as a mid-season report on skier visits and revenue, citing a lack of early-season snowfall as a major factor in the decline.

Season-to-date total lift revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue, was down 1.8% from the same period last year, said the tourism company, which operates dozens of resorts across North America, including Vail Mountain and Breckenridge in Colorado and Park City Mountain in Utah.

“We experienced one of the worst early season snowfalls in the western U.S. in over 30 years, which limited our ability to open terrain and negatively impacted visitation and ancillary spending for both local and destination guests during the period,” Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said in a statement.

Vail’s Tahoe-area resorts in California also had a slow start through mid-December, but holiday-period snowstorms allowed the company to open more terrain, Katz said.

February and March typically can bring significant amounts of snow to the region, and odds favor above-average precipitation for much of the region over the next few weeks, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, with persistent unusually warm conditions less likely. However, NOAA notes, snowfall in the coming months may not be able to make up for existing deficits.

Forecasters further caution that this pattern may not last for the rest of the month, with overall warmer and drier-than-average conditions still favored for the month as a whole.

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(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — A Florida driver was arrested after allegedly trying to hit members of an LGBTQ running club with his vehicle at a local park, according to the West Palm Beach Police Department.

Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud, 43, was arrested on Monday evening for “attempting to strike members of a local running club at a park, making multiple passes and driving recklessly before fleeing,” police said in a press release on Tuesday.

Police responded to the scene at approximately 8:20 p.m. on Monday, and upon arriving, “met with members of a local LGBTQIA+ running club” who reported an individual allegedly driving a Ford Bronco SUV and “intentionally” trying to strike the group with his car, officials said.

Witnesses told officers the individual — later identified as El Mahmoud — had “accelerated toward the runners, making a second attempt to strike them, he then drove recklessly along sidewalks, through grass, and up an embankment before fleeing eastbound,” police said.

Upon further investigation, officials learned that El Mahmoud “became upset over a perceived comment by a male member of the running club, leading to his agitation and subsequent actions,” police said.

The running club was identified as Night Runners WPB, which hosts walks and runs every Monday and Thursday night, according to ABC West Palm Beach, Florida, affiliate WPBF.

Rudolph Galindo, who has been a part of the club since its start nine years ago, told ABC News the suspect’s car was heading right toward him after he asked El Mahmoud if he was there for the running group, which he said “bothered” the suspect.

“As I was talking to a few others, I saw out of the corner of my eye that he got into his car and then started accelerating in reverse directly toward me where I was standing in the parking lot,” Galindo said, describing the incident as a “traumatic experience.”

Galindo, 41, said he then began yelling at the 40 other runners in the area to clear out of the parking lot, with many hiding behind trees.

Seeing the suspect’s car barreling toward the runners, Galindo said he believes the vehicle could have been traveling at a speed of 60 to 80 mph.”He definitely had his foot down on the gas, full pedal to the metal,” Galindo said.

Now Galindo said the club is trying to reassure other members it is safe to take part in their runs.

“It was a scary moment. I’m sad that someone could be that aggressive with a group of people,” Galindo told ABC News.

Shortly after the incident, police said they located El Mahmoud pulling into a parking garage where he tried to remove the license plate from his SUV. He was then taken into custody.

El Mahmoud has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with the intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving, police said. He may also be charged with a hate crime, with officials reviewing his charges for potential enhancement under the state’s hate crime statute, police said.

El Mahmoud is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. The name of the public defender representing El Mahmoud was not immediately available.

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(NEW YORK) — A Columbia University student who was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents Thursday morning after the school claimed agents allegedly made “misrepresentations” to enter a dorm was released later in the day after New York City’s mayor spoke with the president.Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday afternoon that President Donald Trump informed him that the student, Elaina Aghayeva, would be “released immediately” after the mayor said he spoke with the president.

Previously, following the Mamdani’s meeting, Claire Shipman, the school’s acting president, sent a letter to the school community informing them that the DHS agents entered an unspecified dorm on the campus around 6:30 a.m. and detained the student.

“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,” she said.

A statement from a DHS official identified Aghayeva as an Azerbajani native, and alleged her “student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”

“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” the statement further said.

The statement did not address the allegations that DHS agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building.

Mamdani, who met with Trump at the White House Thursday, posted a statement on social media in the afternoon in which he said he spoke with the president about the incident.

“In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani said.

Aghayeva made a story on her Instagram page shortly after Mamdani’s announcement, in which she expressed gratitude for the support.

“I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay. In an uber (on the way) back home,” she said. “I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened.”

Aghayeva was seen by ABC News exiting a vehicle and entering building. She did not give a statement.

An attorney representing Aghayeva filed a petition in federal court Thursday asking a judge to order her release.

Carl Hurvich said in court documents that the student was unlawfully detained and was being held “without justification.”  

The habeas petition said agents “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry” and did not have a warrant for Aghayeva’s arrest. Hurvich requested a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from transferring Aghayeva outside of New York.  

Aghayeva is described in court documents as an undergrad student at Columbia’s School of General Studies pursuing a degree in neuroscience and political science. She entered the U.S. around 2016 on a visa, the filing says. 

Protests took place on the school’s campus on Thursday following the news of the student’s detention, but there were no reported incidents or arrests.

The school was “working to reach the family, and providing legal support,” the Shipman said in her letter.

“It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” the letter said.

“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement condemning the federal agents’ alleged actions.

“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler echoed the governor’s statement.

“Law enforcement agents should not, under no circumstance, misrepresent their identity to gain entrance into a residence. These actions do not keep us safe, they only sow distrust and fear into our community. ICE is terrorizing our neighbors and ripping students from their homes,” Nadler said in a statement, in part. “We are doing everything in our power to help bring the student home.”

Thursday’s incident is not the first encounter between the Trump administration and Columbia.

Last year, pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and held for 104 days on immigration charges.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order on June 20 granting Khalil’s release on bail after determining that he presented neither a danger nor a flight risk and that extraordinary circumstances justified his temporary release while his habeas case proceeded.

The federal government has been appealing its case against Kahlil, a green card holder.

Columbia also reached a $200 million agreement with the Trump administration last July, after it threatened to remove federal funding over what it called Columbia’s “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”

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