National Weather Service Drought Update

Separate Wind Streams Provide Unique View

October 2014 was a very warm and mainly dry month across southeast Colorado, except for portions of the eastern mountains and plains which saw above normal to well above normal precipitation for the month as a whole, due to the remnants of Hurricane Simon moving across eastern Colorado on October 9 and 10.

Sun Obscured by Cloud Cover

The US Drought Monitor recently made improvements in the multi-year drought across southern Colorado. However, with the warm and mainly dry conditions through the rest of October and early November, the current US Drought Monitor is indicating no changes in conditions across the area.  Severe drought conditions (D2) are depicted across all of Kiowa, Bent, Prowers and Baca Counties.

Latest Drought Monitor Map for Southeast Colorado

CPC and VIC soil moisture calculations continue to indicate near normal conditions across most of southeast Colorado with slightly drier conditions indicated across portions of the San Luis Valley. The latest USDA Colorado Crop Report indicated nearly optimal conditions over the past week for harvest activities as freezing temperatures allowed standing crops to dry to ideal moisture content in preparation for harvesting.

Top soil moisture across the state over the past week was rated at 7% very short, 33% as short, 57% at adequate and 2% in surplus conditions. Sub-soil moisture across the state also shows a similar trend with 15% rated at very short, 32% rated at short, 52% rated at adequate and 1% in surplus conditions.  Pasture and rangeland across Colorado also remain in better shape as compared to previous years, with 65% rated at fair to good over this past week, as compared to the five year average of 60% rated fair to good.

Streamflow across the area at the end of October remained generally near to slightly above normal across the area. Reservoir storage for the same period remained in better shape than in previous years, although the exact storage numbers are not available at this time.

Here are some precipitation amounts for portions of southeast Colorado:
.                            Oct 2013           Oct 2014               Past 365 Days
Eads                       0.48                        1.89                        18.46
Holly                      0.61                        0.90                        N/A
Lamar                    0.75                        0.84                        16.00
Walsh                     0.13                        1.03                        14.81
Pritchett                0.27                        1.32                        13.34
Las Animas          0.00                       0.58                        10.89
Trinidad                0.27                         1.09                        13.56
La Junta                0.31                         1.68                         N/A