Drought — Central Yampa River Basin, Colorado

2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Central Yampa River Basin, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought conditions that covered roughly 15% of Colorado Zone 002 - Central Yampa River Basin, with 75% of the zone under Severe (D2) Drought, and 10% of the zone under Moderate (D1) Drought. With the 10/14 Drought Monitor update, significant improvements were noted. Extreme (D3) Drought was completely removed from the zone, with Severe (D2) Drought now covering 20% of the zone, Moderate (D1) Drought covering 70% of the zone, and the introduction of Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions that covered 10% of the zone. With the 10/21 update, the coverage of Severe (D2) conditions was reduced to 25% of the zone, and the coverage of Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions was increased to 15% of the zone, with the coverage of Moderate (D1) conditions unchanged. There were no substantial changes to Drought conditions in this zone between this point and the end of the month.

Wider weather episode

A dry end to September and a dry start to October kept drought conditions consistent across much of eastern Utah and western Colorado at the start of the month. However, the arrival of deep tropical moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storms Priscilla and Raymond helped to substantially improve drought conditions, especially across southwest Colorado. In this region, drought was completely eradicated. Only portions of northeast Utah and northwest Colorado, where the deep tropical moisture did not reach, saw drought conditions persist more or less unchanged.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1296806. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.