Drought Conditions Rising In Colorado

(CBS4) - As Colorado is warming up with our Spring temperatures, our drought conditions are also on the rise. Colorado's weekly Drought Monitor updated on Thursday and it's not looking good in many areas.

Southern Colorado now has extreme drought creeping back in. Our extreme drought (red on the map) jumped from 0% to just over 11% in one week.

Just over 76% of the state has abnormally dry conditions, with just over 61% under moderate drought. There has also been an 8% jump in the severe drought areas to just over 40% of the state in these conditions.

With our rapidly warming temperatures, we've seen quite a bit of melting in our southern snowpack as well. The rising drought and decreasing snowpack could mean very dangerous fire conditions for southern Colorado this summer. We could also see a reduction in our water supply, more dust storms, and tough conditions for our farmers/ranchers in these areas.