Drought — West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, Colorado

2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · West Elk and Sawatch 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 012 - West Elk and Sawatch Mountains. Severe (D2) Drought covered 60% of the zone, while the remaining 20% was under Moderate (D1) Drought conditions. With the 10/14 Drought Monitor update, significant improvements were noted. Extreme (D3) Drought conditions were completely removed, and Severe (D2) Drought conditions were reduced to covering roughly 20% of the zone. Moderate (D1) Drought coverage increased to 65% of the zone, and Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions were introduced, covering 15% of the zone. With the 10/21 update, Severe (D2) Drought conditions were reduced to covering 10% of the zone, and coverage of Moderate (D1) Drought was increased to 75% of the zone. Coverage of Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions did not change. From this point through the end of the month, no substantial changes were noted.

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 1296828. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.