Colorado Drought Expands, Most Extreme Since 2012 & 2013 Fire Seasons

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DENVER (CBS4) - The weekly update of the U.S. Drought Monitor was released Thursday and it shows drought conditions continuing to expand across Colorado.

Specifically, the extreme category (D3) drought showed the most growth, expanding from 9% to 13% of the state.

Extreme drought conditions are now showing up on the far southeast plains in addition the much of southwest Colorado.

According to the Colorado Climate Center in Fort Collins this is the largest area covered by extreme drought since before the 2013 floods.

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The last more than 13% of the state was in D3 #drought was before the September 2013 floods, on the tail end of the 2012 drought. #cowx pic.twitter.com/pBvklDz2lo
— ColoClimateCenter (@ColoradoClimate) March 15, 2018

Prior to the record floods, Colorado experienced two extremely dangerous and deadly fire seasons in a row.

Roughly 250,000 acres burned in Colorado with hundreds of homes lost to the flames in 2012.

It was a similar story in 2013 with approximately 200,000 acres and hundreds of structures lost to wildfires.

Waldo Canyon Fire (credit: CBS)

A Sikorsky S-64 Aircrane firefighting helicopter drops water on a hotspot burning close to homes near Horsetooth Reservoir June 11 near Laporte, Colorado. The High Park Fire in Larimer County has burned almost 37,000 acres and damaged or destroyed more than 100 structures. There is no containment of the fire, which is burning in the mountains about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, Co. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

A home burns on Day 2 of the Black Forest Fire. (credit: CBS)

Stage 1 Fire Restrictions in place for Unincorporated Douglas County https://t.co/Or3hcKiyuw pic.twitter.com/hxykfA4Ngh
— Douglas County CO (@douglascountyco) March 15, 2018

Bad News: NOAA's Drought outlook through June calls for it to persist. And Colorado's outlook is warm and dry overall. #COwx #4wx #Drought pic.twitter.com/23onMG3RIy
— Chris Spears (@ChrisCBS4) March 15, 2018

Meteorologist Chris Spears travels weekly in the CBS4 Mobile Weather Lab reporting about Colorado's weather and climate. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.