Drought — Southwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Southwestern San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of September, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought conditions as covering roughly 50% of Colorado Zone 019 - Southwestern San Juan Mountains, with the remainder of the zone under Severe (D2) Drought conditions. With the 9/10 update, the percentage coverage of Extreme (D3) Drought remained unchanged, but an area of Extreme (D3) Drought in the far southeastern part of the zone was removed while an area comparable in size of Extreme (D3) Drought was introduced in the middle of the zone. With the 9/17 update, there was a substantial improvement, with the area coverage of Extreme (D3) Drought reduced to less than 10%. The 9/24 update again saw the percentage coverage remain unchanged but the location of the area did change. From this point to the end of the month there was no substantial change to drought conditions.

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 1295055. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.