Drought — West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, Colorado

2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Exceptional (D4) Drought that covered roughly 20% of Colorado Zone 012 - West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, with the remaining 80% of the zone seeing Extreme (D3) Drought conditions. With the 9/3 Drought Monitor update, the area of Exceptional (D4) Drought was removed and the coverage of Extreme (D3) Drought was reduced to covering roughly 2/3 of the zone. The remainder of the zone saw Severe (D2) Drought conditions or better. There was significant improvement with the 9/17 update, with Extreme (D3) Drought conditions reduced to just 25% of the zone. There were no significant changes in drought conditions from this point to 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 1295048. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.