After a long, dry summer, much of Colorado is drought-free, thanks in part to a November storm which brought heavy, wet snow to much of the state, particularly the eastern plains, where some areas saw up to three feet of snow. In the southeast, Kiowa County received over an inch of liquid equivalent, while counties further north saw up to three inches of liquid, accelerating the move to the drought-free category to close out the year.

December saw a range of conditions, including a late-December red flag warning for high fire danger across most of the eastern plains.

Just over three-quarters of Colorado is considered drought free according to the latest report from the National Drought Mitigation Center released Wednesday morning and includes data through December 31, 2024. A year ago, only about one-third of the state was in a similar condition, with another third abnormally dry. The remainder of the state was in moderate, severe, or extreme drought.

Image

This week, north central Colorado, particularly Larimer and Weld counties, remain areas of concern. Extreme drought, which had receded but not quite disappeared, expanded to encompass part of northeast Larimer and northwest Weld two weeks ago. Much of the remainder of Larimer County is in severe drought, which stretches into Weld and northeast Boulder counties. The Marshall Fire in Boulder County, which destroyed more than 1,000 structures, marked its third anniversary on the same day as the December red flag warning. While some fires were reported that day, minimal damage was reported.

Slightly over six percent of Colorado started the year with moderate drought conditions, including portions of Jackson, Grand, Boulder, Gilpin, Weld, Logan, Adams, Denver, and Arapahoe counties in the north central part of the state. In northwest Colorado, nearly half of Moffat and the northwest corner of Rio Blanco counties are also in moderate drought conditions.

Abnormally dry areas stretch across portions of Garfield, Rio Blanco, Moffat, Routt, Jackson, Boulder, Grand, Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Jefferson counties in the northwest and north central portion of the state, extending into parts of Douglas, Arapahoe, Adams, Weld, Morgan, and Logan counties.

In the southwest, parts of Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel counties are also in abnormally dry conditions.

Image

For snow water equivalent – the amount of liquid contained in snow – most Colorado basins are at or above 100 percent of the median for this time of year. The exceptions are the San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan and Upper Rio Grande basins in southwest and south central Colorado, which are at 85 and 82 percent, respectively.