About 12% of Colorado is currently experiencing no levels of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is better than at the start of summer, when the entire state was in drought conditions. 

Recent rains have helped, but the state is still short by nearly 25% of its usual “water year” totals, according to the latest data from Colorado State University’s Colorado Climate Center.

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A water year is defined as a period of time from October to September of the next year. It was set up this way because “October is usually the start of snow season,” according to Mark Wankowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo. 

While July and August have benefited from monsoon season, Wankowski says the National Weather Service sees an even chance of an unusually wet, dry or normal winter. 

“There are equal chances of seeing above, below or near normal precipitation across southern Colorado,” he said. “The big thing is we lose the monsoon in September. Colorado Springs averages 2.96 inches of precipitation in August, but that drops to 1.35 inches in September.”

The National Weather Service’s seasonal outlook for Colorado drought conditions sees parts of the Front Range largely escaping those conditions long-term. However, in parts of the state on the Western Slope and Eastern Plains, the drought will persist. 

Regardless, Wankowski hopes the wet conditions continue, but also delivered a dose of meteorological realism. 

“We got pretty lucky with monsoonal rain and hopefully that continues, but the trend is that things dry out in the winter.”

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