Residents living along Colorado’s northern Front Range and Northeastern Plains experienced a pretty wet year – the wettest, in fact, in 128 years. 

And water experts expect this winter isn’t likely to be much different.

Becky Bolinger, assistant state climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center, said those areas had the wettest year since the state started keeping those records 128 years ago.

Bolinger reviewed the water year that will end on Sept. 30 with the state’s Water Availability Task Force on Tuesday. 

Those wet conditions were a double-edged sword, Bolinger said. Record storms, particularly in June, also produced the most severe weather reports on record.

The 310 reports included thunderstorms and flash floods, as well as active hailstorms with 2-inch diameter hailstones. July and August look to be in the Top 10 for record weather, she added.

But the wet conditions didn’t arrive in the San Luis Valley or the Sangre de Cristo mountain area, which showed a some of the area with some of the driest conditions on record. Alamosa had its driest summer ever, although September has been better, she added.

Even southeastern Colorado, which has been plagued by drought for several years, had better moisture this summer.

It’s also been cooler this year except in August, which was the 10th warmest on record, Bolinger said.

That largely means evaporative demand – which shows the “thirst of the atmosphere” – has been normal or even a little below normal. Western Colorado is the exception, a region of the state where it’s drying out and putting stress on vegetation.

About 31% of the state is in some level of drought, but at the lowest levels. The affected areas are entirely in southwestern Colorado, and Bolinger said those conditions developed since early to mid-July. But that’s an improvement from where Colorado stood at the beginning of the water year last Oct. 1.

For the fall, the forecast predicts above average temperatures and an El Niño pattern, which means above average moisture. That pattern – Bolinger characterized the forecast as a moderate to strong El Niño winter – could continue through the spring. 

That might not be the best news for some of Colorado’s northern ski areas. Bolinger explained that the northern mountains tend to do better in drier La Niña years, rather than El Niño years. Overall, however, the state benefits more from El Niño conditions, she added. 

That also means that drought conditions are less likely to develop during the winter, with the exception of northwest Colorado. She also believes the winter snowfall may start a little later, with hopes the wet summer will keep soil moistures comfortable until the snows start.

What all this summer moisture means for reservoirs and stream flows came from Karl Wetlaufer of the Natural Resources Conservation Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And there’s a lot of good news.

Many reservoirs are full or nearly so after years of below average levels. In some reservoirs, water levels are at nearly 10-year highs, he said, such as for the reservoirs along the South Platte.

Reservoirs in the Gunnison River basin, which a year ago were at some of their lowest levels in 30 years, have made dramatic improvements, Wetlaufer said.

One report shows Blue Mesa, the state’s largest reservoir, with 50 feet more water than in 2021 and only 10 feet below full capacity. On the other hand, Navajo Reservoir, in southwestern Colorado, hasn’t fared quite as well. 

In the San Luis Valley, home to the upper Rio Grande River basin, most reservoirs are at normal levels, he said. That follows three years of grim reservoir levels, Wetlaufer explained. 

Reservoirs in the Arkansas Valley are mostly at normal levels, with Pueblo Reservoir well above average.

What does this year’s snowmelt mean for streamflows?

Almost everywhere is “impressive,” Wetlaufer said, noting record streamflows in rivers is many parts of the state, with some exceeding records going back 50 to 100 years.