Copious Moisture This Week Should Eventually Put A Dent In Colorado's Drought

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado's Front Range just experienced the wettest weather in 6 months. It was the middle of March the last time so much rain and snow reached the area. And eventually the benefits of this badly needed moisture should show up in the state drought monitor.

BOULDER, CO - SEPTEMBER 09: Kristen Daly attempts to brush snow off of tree branches in her front yard during an early season snow storm on September 9, 2020 in Boulder, Colorado. The storm brought more than five inches of snow to areas along Colorado's front range, but temperatures are expected to return to the 80s this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

The weekly drought monitor released Thursday morning was not able to capture any of the recent moisture. It shows 99% of Colorado with moderate drought, 92% of the state with at least severe drought, and 55% of our 104,000 square miles experiencing extreme drought. All three drought categories worsened from a week ago.

(source: CBS)

The drought monitor usually lags behind reality whether is be positive or negative. And that should be the case this week meaning at least some improvement should be seen on the drought map in the weeks to come.

Denver officially received 1 of snow this week but also received nearly 1 inch of rain. Most of that fell on Tuesday prior to the changeover to snow. It has been very welcomed moisture and now allows September to be above normal with precipitation.

(source: CBS)

Denver does remain below normal for 2020 by more than 4 inches which is a lot for a high desert city that only get about 15 inches of precipitation each year.

In caparison, a year ago Denver had received nearly 13 inches of precipitation through Sept. 9.

So what fell this week has been good. ... We need a lot more.