Drought Conditions Worsen In Northeastern Colorado

DENVER (CBS) - Colorado's weekly Drought report released Thursday shows no improvement to the extreme to exceptional drought situation that has been plaguing the Western Slope all summer long. Along with that report the dry conditions are now getting worse in the northeast corner of the state over the course of the last few weeks. Areas across Sterling, Yuma and Wray have gone from no drought to abnormally dry. Certainly, not full on drought for the northeast but, bears watching as that zone dries out.

This week the area still hardest hit with the ongoing drought is the northwestern corner of the state. Areas from Grand Junction/Montrose up thru Craig/Steamboat and over into Eagle are locked in the worst of the categories at extreme to exceptional. Earlier this week Gov. Jared Polis toured this part of the state to see the drought damage first hand.

There is a small tidbit of good news for southwestern Colorado. The western San Juan mountains have been in abnormally dry to moderate conditions. Still extremely dry but, a few weeks of monsoon thunderstorms have kept the drought there from getting worse.

More thunderstorms are expected in the southwest on Friday that should deliver welcome rain.

Denver and the Front Range are still in good shape with no drought conditions going on. July thunderstorms helped to alleviate the Front Range drought. Coming up the Front Range mountains and foothills are also expecting measurable rain on Friday afternoon. This could be a help and a hinderance. The rain will definitely be welcome but, will also bring back the flood threat for many of our wildfire burn areas heading into the weekend.