From The Denver Post (Jesse Paul):
A U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday showed most all of El Paso County and all of Pueblo County enveloped by pre-drought conditions.
“In southeast Colorado, hot temperatures (and) strong winds were drying out soils and sending crops downhill fast, and numerous range fires were also occurring,” the report said.
Just over a quarter of the state, including eastern Washington County and extreme northwest Colorado, were listed as being abnormally dry.
In June, the monitor reported drought and abnormal dryness had been eliminated from southeastern Colorado after years of dry conditions there.
That news followed a May report from the National Weather Service reducing the southeast’s drought classification to “abnormally dry” from “extreme.”