Pacific winds

Why on earth would a warm patch of water in the Pacific Ocean influence whether there is fresh powder at Vail?

That’s the question that Klaus Wolter of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, has been working on for decades to answer. Equally as important is that Wolter simultaneously contributes his knowledge and forecasts to Colorado’s Water Availability Task Force to help it mitigate drought effects throughout the state.

This year, those efforts have earned him the Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research in the Sustainability category. Specifically, Wolter studies the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, a…