Drought — Central Colorado River Basin, Colorado

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

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor indicated that 100% of Colorado Zone 008 - Central Colorado River Basin was under Extreme (D3) Drought. With the 10/14 Drought Monitor update, significant improvement was noted. The coverage of Extreme (D3) Drought was reduced to 20% of the zone, and Severe (D2) Drought was introduced, covering the remaining 80% of the zone. No substantial 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 1296819. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.