No Drought Improvement This Week As Dry Weather Dominates Most Of Colorado

DENVER (CBS) - Denver still hasn't experienced the first snow of the season, only two days this month has had measurable precipitation, and the last 5 months have all had below normal precipitation. The result is drought that shows no signs of going away anytime soon.

The weekly drought monitor released Thursday morning showed zero improvement from the previous week in Colorado. This is despite some significant snow for some mountain areas north of Interstate 70.

About 66% of the state has at least moderate drought including the entire Denver metro area and most of the Front Range. Almost 30% of Colorado has at least severe drought including some areas on the Eastern Plains most mountain areas west of the Continental Divide. Meanwhile, nearly 95% of Colorado is considered "abnormally dry" which is the precursor to official drought.

It's been a pivotal transformation from earlier this year. In the late spring and early summer drought had shrunk to cover less than 35% of Colorado. Then after a very dry summer and early fall, drought has quickly expanded.

Below is the monthly precipitation in Denver to explain how different the first five months of the year were compared to the past five months:

January Precipitation: 0.22" (0.19 below normal)
February Precipitation: 0.80" (0.43 above normal)
March Precipitation: 3.80" (2.88 above normal)
April Precipitation: 2.02" (0.31 above normal)
May Precipitation: 3.65" (1.49 above normal)
June Precipitation: 0.84" (1.10 below normal)
July Precipitation: 0.34" (1.80 below normal)
August Precipitation: 0.27" (1.31 below normal)
September Precipitation: 0.28" (1.07 below normal)
October Precipitation: 0.05" (0.64 below normal) *as of October 20

Looking ahead through the weekend and into next week, the only chance for any precipitation in the Denver metro area should wait until Tuesday and it does not appear significant at this time.

The mountains have a chance for snow Saturday night and again on Tuesday with generally minor accumulation.