Drought Improves Even More For Most Of Colorado, Grim Situation On The Western Slope

DENVER (CBS4) - A week ago all levels of drought were eliminated from Colorado's Front Range but a few counties remained "abnormally dry." This week even those areas have disappeared.

During the second week in May, most of Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties were still considered "abnormally dry" which is the precursor to drought.

A week later, the entire urban corridor from Castle Rock to Fort Collins is free from any classification on the drought map. The last time this was the case was during the first week of May 2020.

While it's great news for Denver and the Front Range, the drought situation remains very troubling starting less than 75 miles west of the metro area. About 16% of Colorado's Western Slope remains under "exceptional drought" which is the worse drought category. And at least 29% of Colorado has at least "extreme drought" including cites such as Craig, Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Montrose, Telluride, Durango, and Cortez.

The difference between liquid precipitation (including melted snow) east and west of the Continental Divide this year remains stark. While Boulder is approaching 11 inches of liquid so far in 2021, Fort Collins is nearing 10 inches, and Denver has well over 8 inches, most locations on the Western Slope have received far less. Montrose has picked up just 0.01" of liquid in the last week and their total for the year is only 1.76".

The drought combined with very warm temperatures, low humidity, and gusty winds on the Western Slope will push the fire danger to a critical stage. Therefore a Red Flag Warning has been issued from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. for much of far western Colorado.

In terms of the chance for moisture for the end of the week, the chance is very small. A few late day thunderstorms will be possible in Colorado on Thursday but any rain will be very limited. The storms would produce far more wind that rain.

A somewhat better chance for late day thunderstorms returned to the mountains on Friday followed by a slightly better chance in the Denver metro area on Saturday.