Drought — Elkhead and Park Mountains, Colorado

2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Elkhead and Park Mountains, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought as covering roughly 20% of Colorado Zone 004 - Elkhead and Park Mountains, with the remaining 80% under Severe (D2) Drought conditions. With the 10/14 Drought Monitor update, significant improvement was noted. Extreme (D3) Drought conditions were completely removed, with 20% of the zone now under Severe (D2) Drought conditions. Moderate (D1) Drought was introduced at this point, covering roughly 80% of the zone. No significant changes were noted from this point through 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 1296810. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.