Drought — Roan and Tavaputs Plateaus, Colorado

2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Roan and Tavaputs Plateaus, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Exceptional (D4) Drought that covered approximately 90% of Colorado Zone 003 - Roan and Tavaputs Plateaus, with Extreme (D3) Drought covering the remaining 10%. With the 9/3 Drought Monitor update, all areas of Exceptional (D4) Drought were removed, with Extreme (D3) Drought now covering 100% of the zone. There was significant improvement with the 9/17 update, as the area of Extreme (D3) Drought was reduced to covering 2/3 of the zone. There were no substantial changes to drought category in this zone from this point through the end of the month.

Wider weather episode

The month of September continued to run above normal in terms of temperatures, and below normal in terms of precipitation. However, there were a few periods of heavy rain across the region, particularly around September 12th, and again at the end of the month, which helped to improve drought conditions across the region. A dry end to the month did allow for some worsening drought around the Four Corners.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1295031. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.