Drought in San Juan River Basin, Colorado

At the beginning of the month of October, the US Drought Monitor analyzed an area of Extreme (D3) Drought as covering roughly 1% of Colorado Zone 023 - San Juan River Basin, with 50% of the zone under Severe (D2) Drought conditions, and 49% under Moderate (D1) Drought conditions. With the 10/14 update, significant improvements were noted. Extreme (D3) and Severe (D2) Drought conditions were completely removed, and Abnormally Dry (D0) and Drought Free conditions were introduced. Moderate (D1) Drought now covered 5% of the zone, with 90% of the zone under Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions, and 5% under Drought Free conditions. With 10/21 update, Moderate (D1) Drought coverage remained unchanged, but Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions were reduced to 15% coverage. The remaining 80% were now Drought Free. No substantial changes were noted between this point and the end of the month.

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.