9/18 Drought Update 🌵: We saw more beneficial precipitation last week, which prompted widespread improvements in western and southern Colorado in this week's US Drought Monitor. Good news for now, but we'll need additional moisture to continue chipping away at those longer-term deficits.

August Recap ⏪: Hot, dry conditions intensified drought and fanned wildfires across western Colorado, but monsoon moisture finally delivered some much-needed precipitation at the end of the month. Just how significant was that rainfall? All that and more in our monthly climate summary! col.st/STpEm

Last week's sorely needed rain across western Colorado was enough to remove the D4 (exceptional) drought in the northwest. Still, though, 25% of the state is in D3 (extreme) drought, with very large precipitation deficits going back to the beginning of the year. #cowx climate.colostate.edu/drought/

“The biggest factor is the dry spring conditions and layered on top of them a much drier than normal summer,” said Peter Goble, assistant state climatologist. “We will be watching those base flows but also soil moisture levels as we go into fall and early winter to see if those pick back up.” #cowx

Monsoonal rains are dousing western Colorado wildfires. They also come with serious flood concerns.

Flash flooding possible today in Georgia and South Carolina. By Monday, chances for heavy rain increase for the southern Plains, and may linger into late in the week. Keep up with the forecast at weather.gov, and remember: Turn Around, Don't Drown when encountering flooded roadways.

Greetings from the Colorado Water Congress summer conference in beautiful (but dry) Steamboat Springs. We’re discussing our work with CoAgMET and especially the effort to improve soil moisture monitoring across Colorado!

Finally, a pattern change on the way for western Colorado! Model forecasts of precipitable water (total water vapor in the atmosphere) at Grand Junction show more hot and dry this week, but then some real moisture next wk. Too early to say how much rain or drought relief, but a welcome sight.🤞 #cowx

“Northwestern Colorado is the epicenter of drought in the whole country right now,” said Colorado’s state climatologist and the director of the Colorado Climate Center. “It’s about as bad as it gets.”

ICYMI: Parts of western Colorado are now experiencing exceptional drought. Curious how we got here and what we might expect in the coming weeks and months? Check out today's blog post ⬇️ col.st/j3EpX

Info for Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada 👇 "Dry thunderstorms will be the primary fire weather concern for today across the northeastern Great Basin, though warm, dry, and windy conditions will likely develop across parts of the Great Basin and northern Rockies." - NWS Forecast Discussion

The D4 (exceptional) category was added to this week's US Drought Monitor in northwest Colorado, amid a lack of spring and summer precipitation, fast-growing wildfires, and low streamflow. It's the first D4 in the state since January 2023, and the first D4 west of the divide since Oct 2021. #cowx

The Colorado Mesonet was recognized with the American Association of State Climatologists 30 Year Mesonet Award for contributing more than 30 years of quality weather records of Colorado. Way to go @climate.colostate.edu team! engr.source.colostate.edu/csu-colorado...

CoAgMET---the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological network, aka Colorado's Mesonet---was recently recognized for over 30 years of data collection. Read more about the award and the network in this story from CSU Source. Here's to 30 more years of valuable weather and climate information! #cowx

July seems like a long time ago, with everything happening with drought and wildfire in Colorado in the first part of August. But take a look back at how July conditions helped set the stage for the situation unfolding now, in our monthly state climate summary. #cowx

Thorough summary from Summit Daily of the worsening drought and wildfire situation on the western slope. #cowx

Latest update puts the Lee Fire at 58,714 acres, which puts it in the top 10 largest wildfires in Colorado records. It only started on Saturday (5 days ago). #cowx

This week's US Drought Monitor shows continued expansion of extreme drought in northwestern Colorado. Over 20% of the state is now in D3. Large fires continue to grow in drought-stricken areas, with the Lee Fire near Meeker now at 45,000 acres, with more hot, dry, and windy weather today. #cowx

Drought blankets most of Intermountain West, including Colorado — and will likely get worse (CPR News) #cowx #drought

Today's NIDIS Intermountain West Drought webinar (1pm MT) will have a Colorado flavor, including results from last year's urban heat mapping campaign in Grand Junction. More information and registration at this link: www.drought.gov/events/inter...

July rainfall had some huge variations across the Denver metro area. From downtown southward to Littleton, many stations with less than 0.25" for the month. But over 2.5" in parts of Aurora and Centennial. Thanks to all the CoCoRaHS observers for enabling such a detailed map! #cowx

Another view of the earlier tornado near Westcliffe! A rare 8,000’+ twister. Also the first tornado in Custer County since 2019, per @coloradoclimate.bsky.social 📸: Laura LeQuesne #COwx

Custer County is not a typical place for overlapping tornado and flash flood warnings! A tornado was observed southwest of Westcliffe this afternoon. The tornado warning has since expired, but the flash flood warning continues. It's the first tornado report in Custer County since 2019. #cowx

It's been the 'summer of flash floods' in the US, but there hasn't been much in Colorado so far. However, it's the last week in July, which is historically the peak in flash flooding across the state, and right on schedule, there will be a risk later this week. More in our latest blog post.👇 #cowx

New blog post on heat and humidity: no, even if you visited a humid place, you didn't experience 98°F and 98% humidity. That is not a thing that happens. But read on for some of the nuances of humidity measurements, and what they say about how humid it feels at different times and locations.

The Turner Gulch fire in western Colorado has grown to over 15,000 acres; it's the largest wildfire (by area) in the state since the record-breaking 2020 fire year. #cowx www.denverpost.com/2025/07/16/c...

This week's US Drought Monitor shows expansion of extreme drought (D3) in northwest Colorado. At Hayden, the last 90 days have been the driest such period on record, with only 1.18" of precip compared to an average of 4.93". NW CO could see heavy rainfall today to reduce the deficits a bit. #cowx

was not expecting to wake up and see reports of an early-morning swath of large hail along the Front Range (apologies to those who woke up to damage.) Big hail in the early am is *exceedingly* rare. Prior to today, only 7 reports in state records of 2"+ hail between the hours of 2-5am. #cowx

The June 6, 2020 derecho brought the most severe thunderstorm wind reports in a single day in Colorado records *by far*. So many that there is a spike on June 6 when calculating the climatology of severe winds for the state (bottom panel of graph). Five years ago today. #cowx

Heavy rain is possible across southern Colorado through Weds. Early June is typically dry in SW CO, so this storm could bring 1-2x the usual rainfall for all of June. It may not help much with the poor water supply situation, but will recharge soil moisture and hopefully reduce wildfire risk. #cowx

Are you in NE Colorado? Want to help out the #ICECHIP effort? We would deeply appreciate very large hailstones found by chasers or the community to be bagged & tagged and handed off to one of our teams! For labeling, please: • Write time, lat, and lon of collection!

Four tornadoes confirmed from Sunday east of Denver; three of them rated EF-2! Adams County is one of the most tornado-prone counties in the country, but this is the first EF-2 in the county since July 13, 1996. #cowx

Drought update for the Intermountain West from NIDIS: www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

Today!

Wednesday evening's storms had 64 preliminary reports of severe winds in eastern Colorado. That's second to only the June 6, 2020 derecho in terms of number of severe thunderstorm wind reports on a single day in Colorado! #cowx

New blog post: "The changing drought landscape after a big storm and May heat" This week’s US Drought Monitor shows big changes across Colorado, with improvements in the southeast from last week's big storm, and worsening conditions in the west after a warm, dry April and early May. #cowx #drought

Today!

Healthy precipitation amounts over the last two days in southern Colorado and along the Front Range. Widespread totals >1.5" on the southeastern Plains, and over 3" west of Colorado Springs and around Cañon City. #cowx

It snowed again, but to what effect? bigpivots.com/it-snowed-ag...

We are promoting CoCoRaHS hail reports as part of the upcoming @nsficechip.bsky.social project -- you can learn more about the project at the field day on May 17th in Boulder! (And did you know that CoCoRaHS observers can now submit photos with hail reports?)

"The region’s rivers and streams are likely to be lower than usual between now and July, when rivers typically swell to their peaks, according to Peter Goble, a climatologist for the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University." #cowx #drought

Some very big precipitation amounts in the forecast for the next 2 days, especially in southern Colorado. This will be welcome in light of the worsening drought in that area, but there's also a risk of flooding at low elevations and a winter storm warning at high elevations. #cowx

This week's US Drought Monitor shows expanding drought across Colorado, with a new area of D3 (extreme) on the western slope after a dry April and rapidly declining mountain snowpack. We've got our fingers crossed for the storm next week, with some large precipitation amounts in the forecast! #cowx

Coverage from FOX31 on the poor mountain snowpack situation in southern Colorado: kdvr.com/news/local/s... #cowx

It's the time of year when people start asking about when they can plant their gardens, and we've got the data to help! Go to col.st/oOkXW for maps of the timing of last spring freezes, then click a station to get more details (and decide how much risk you're willing to take). Happy planting! #cowx

Tomorrow (Weds) will be the first chance of the spring for severe thunderstorms across eastern Colorado. Brush up on your Colorado severe weather climatology here! climate.colostate.edu/severe_wx_cl... #cowx

Good news: the funding for the Regional Climate Centers has been approved, so products are back up and running on both their website and ours. Another example tool using HPRCC data: our interactive maps of standardized precipitation index (SPI), which is very important for drought monitoring.

You may see messages like this on parts of our website, including the drought page. We rely heavily on maps & data from the High Plains Regional Climate Center, which no longer has funding. We'll do our best to point to alternative data sources, but many of these products are not easy to replicate.

Are you ready for a classic spring Colorado weather day? Warm with critical fire weather conditions in southeast Colorado, followed by a strong cold front this evening and snow in the mountains and along the Front Range. #cowx Forecast maps from the National Weather Service.

New blog post: No good news in the snowpack and water supply numbers. The snowpack in Colorado's southern mountains never got to a good level this year, and now it's melting quickly. This doesn't bode well for river flows in the spring and summer. #cowx