Drought — Grand and Battlement Mesas, Colorado

2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Grand and Battlement Mesas, Colorado

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor indicated that 100% of Colorado Zone 009 - Grand and Battlement Mesas was under Extreme (D3) Drought conditions. With the 10/14 Drought Monitor update, significant improvement was noted. Extreme (D3) Drought was completely removed and Severe (D2) Drought was introduced, now covering 100% of the zone. With the 10/21 update, Moderate (D1) Drought conditions were introduced, covering 70% of the zone, with Severe (D2) Drought conditions reduced to 30% of the zone. No substantial changes were noted 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 1296821. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.