Exceptional drought - the most severe category tracked by the National Drought Mitigation Center - expanded again across Colorado’s central mountains over the past week, while heavy rain brought a measure of relief to the state’s northeast corner. The U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday, September 10, reflects conditions as they stood at 8 a.m. Tuesday, September 8.

Exceptional drought now covers 13 percent of Colorado, up from 12 percent a week ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Extreme and exceptional drought combined reached 47 percent of the state, the highest mark of the water year now drawing to a close.

Snowpack

With the water year ending September 30, mountain snowpack has been gone from all but the highest terrain for months, leaving water-year precipitation as the more useful measure of how the season played out. Colorado’s SNOTEL network finished the period well short of normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Across 105 reporting SNOTEL sites statewide, water-year-to-date precipitation averaged 75 percent of the 1991-2020 median as of Thursday. Twenty-six of those sites - roughly one in four - were below 70 percent. The driest readings came from Whiskey Creek at 43 percent of median, with Chapman Tunnel and Trinchera each at 50 percent and Culebra #2 at 51 percent.

Only a handful of sites finished near normal. Upper Rio Grande and Beartown, both in the southern San Juans, reported 101 percent of median, and Vallecito came in at 98 percent. A year ago at this point, no part of Colorado was in exceptional drought at all, and extreme drought covered 24 percent of the state compared to 33 percent now.

Drought Conditions

The core of the state’s exceptional drought remains anchored over the central mountains, where Eagle, Pitkin and Lake counties are each entirely - 100 percent - in exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Summit County is close behind at 88 percent exceptional and 12 percent extreme, while Chaffee County stands at 78 percent exceptional and 22 percent extreme.

The sharpest deterioration this week came in Gunnison County, where exceptional drought more than doubled from 22 percent to 50 percent, with the balance of the county in extreme drought. Saguache County saw exceptional drought grow from 40 percent to 59 percent. Garfield County reported 34 percent exceptional and 63 percent extreme drought, and Park County registered 15 percent exceptional, 49 percent extreme and 36 percent severe drought. All of Custer County remains in extreme drought without reaching the exceptional category.

Conditions on the eastern plains are less severe but far from comfortable. Kiowa County is 43 percent extreme drought, 53 percent severe and 5 percent moderate, unchanged from the prior week. Prowers County shows 22 percent severe and 78 percent moderate drought, while Cheyenne County reports 22 percent severe, 59 percent moderate and 15 percent abnormally dry, with a small corner - about 4 percent - free of drought. The National Drought Mitigation Center noted that rain totals of 1 to 3 inches fell across parts of adjacent northeast Colorado during the period, lessening precipitation deficits and improving drought conditions there.

Statistics

Compared to the previous week, drought-free area held steady at 6 percent of Colorado. Abnormally dry conditions edged up from 5 to 6 percent and moderate drought slipped from 14 to 13 percent. Severe drought contracted from 31 to 28 percent, while extreme drought grew from 32 to 33 percent and exceptional drought expanded from 12 to 13 percent - the shift reflecting deterioration in the mountains rather than improvement overall.

One year ago, the picture was markedly different. On September 9, 2025, 40 percent of Colorado was free of drought and none of the state had reached the exceptional category. Abnormally dry conditions covered 11 percent, moderate drought 9 percent, severe drought 17 percent and extreme drought 24 percent. Conditions at the start of the current water year on September 30, 2025, were milder still, with 46 percent of the state drought-free and no exceptional drought.

Just over 4,468,000 Colorado residents live in a drought-impacted area. Colorado’s 2023 population was estimated at 5,877,610.

Drought categories include (ranked from least to most severe) abnormally dry (D0), moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3), and exceptional (D4) drought.

Image

Colorado drought conditions - September 8, 2026 - National Drought Mitigation Center