Colorado is ringing in 2023 with good news in the battle against drought. Now, 40% of the state is drought-free, which is a 26% increase since last week's update.
The last time Colorado was 40% drought-free was the drought update on September 7, 2021.
Use the slider below to compare this week to last week:
Notable changes are especially apparent for Grand Junction and the western slope and for Steamboat and the northern mountains. Also, the Denver metro and northeastern plains saw a decrease in drought levels. Eastern El Paso county also dropped from severe to moderate drought.
We can thank our recent drink of water on a persistent fetch of Pacific moisture being ushered into the state from December into the New Year. The areas which saw drought improvemnt saw 2 to 3 times more than normal precipitation in the past 30 days.
The snowpack has also seen a boost from recent snow, with statewide levels about 20% above normal this time of year.
Sticking out like a sore thumb is the Arkansas River basin and the southeastern mountains and plains zone. This region has mostly missed out on this recent active weather pattern.
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