Click the link to read the article on the Colorado Public Radio website (Ishan Thakore). Here’s an excerpt:
May 27, 2025
Pockets of Colorado remain in drought as federal forecasters expect an unusually hot and dry summer, which could lead to an uptick in fire activity, according to data from the National Integrated Drought Information System. The data, released May 20, show that drought conditions across Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming have worsened over the last two months, driven by a warm dry spring. Nearly all of Arizona is experiencing some form of drought; Utah declared a drought emergency in late April for over a dozen counties. In Colorado, high temperatures in April and May rapidly melted snow in the mountains, pushing the state’s snowpack levels to well below normal, compared to past years. Coupled with below-average precipitation in April, summer water supplies in the Colorado River basin are expected to decline, according to data from NOAA stations. Water supply forecasts are also declining through June for the Rio Grande basin.
Federal forecasts indicate that hotter-than-normal temperatures will likely continue through the summer in Colorado. That means that drought conditions, particularly on the Western Slope, will likely get worse. There may be some relief – federal data indicate that there may be an above-average monsoon season from July – September in the Southwest. If that forecast pans out, those summer rainstorms could ease the state’s drought and tamp down wildfire risk.
