Colorado’s big winter isn’t just good news for skiers and snowboarders seeking fresh powder.
After the state spent much of 2018 mired in a nasty and costly drought, it’s almost officially over. As of last Thursday’s official update from the United States Drought Monitor, only a tiny sliver of Colorado remains in a drought. Less than 1 percent of the state — a thin line in the extreme far southwest corner of the state along the New Mexico border — was classified as experiencing some form of drought, according to the Monitor.
About 15 percent of the state was considered to be abnormally dry, but not in a drought.
Snowpack levels continue to run well above season-to-date averages as well, meaning reservoirs will continue to fill up as this winter’s hefty snows melt off. As of Friday’s National Resources Conservation Service update, statewide snowpack was at 132 percent of average, mainly thanks to an especially active end of the winter season.
This is a massive difference from even just two months ago, when more than half the state (58 percent) was considered to be experiencing drought conditions. At one point last July, more than three-quarters of the state, around 77 percent, was experiencing drought.
Perhaps worst of all came last August, when nearly half the state (45 percent) was considered to be in either an “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, the two highest levels on the official scale.
The recovery, however, began in earnest in January and February, thanks to an active string of storm systems that repeatedly drenched the West Coast with seemingly endless moisture. This brought major drought relief not only to Colorado, but it also added badly needed moisture to much of the western third of the country as well.
Most meteorologists point to a weak El Niño for helping bust the drought. During the winter, El Niño tends to pump in more Pacific moisture to the southern West Coast, and it did precisely that. At or near record winters were observed in lower and higher elevations throughout the southwestern United States, helping partially make up for a dry 2017-18.
Colorado’s drought, however, already has done its damage. It produced one of the worst wildfire seasons on record last summer, and most state reservoirs continue to run below capacity. And even with as big as a winter as Colorado saw, it can’t alone make up for back-to-back paltry winters.
In the near term, however, El Niño may play a role in keeping things wet along the Front Range through the spring and into summer. This could have Colorado officially — and finally — drought-free for the first time since August 2017.