We’ve talked a lot about the science behind why our recent massive snowstorm happened… from the jet stream to seasonality. But we have some brass tacks reality news to talk about now: what this storm did to our drought conditions. You've probably heard of the issues both coasts of the U.S. are having with drought. Not here!
The new Drought Monitor, released on November 12th, shows a widespread improvement in drought conditions across southern Colorado. Statewide, nearly 60 percent of the state is now free of any level of drought… a 15 percent improvement from before last week’s storm.
This is particularly true in southern Colorado. El Paso County is currently considered abnormally dry, up from moderate drought conditions at the start of the month… and much of the southern tier is fully free of drought.
Check this out. Using a combination of ground sensors and radar data, almost all of Colorado east of the Front Range has more than three times our normal precipitation for the last 30 days. In fact, we’re so far above normal I actually had to call our graphics software team to edit this map because the numbers are literally off the chart.
Dialing in the numbers… in Colorado Springs, more than 1.5 inches of liquid water equivalent has fallen, placing us in 6th place for the wettest November ever. We need about another 8-tenths for first place. In Pueblo, over 2.2 inches has fallen. Third place… and three-tenths from the wettest of all time.
Looking ahead, the Climate Prediction Center has below-average rainfall overall toward the end of the month, with above-average rainfall over the parched East Coast.
The takeaway here is that this November’s massive winter storm wasn’t just historic… it also majorly improved our water status going into our drier months of the year.
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