Despite a series of storms over the previous weekin eastern Colorado, only slight improvements in drought conditions were noted, mainly in Prowers and Baca counties, while drought intensified in western Colorado.
Central and western Prowers County saw extreme drought withdraw to just portions of the northwest and southwest corners, while severe drought retreated to the center of the county.
While portions of southeast Colorado border counties showed some improvement in drought conditions, a new area of "exceptional drought" - the worst category - appeared elsewhere in the region.
Eastern Kiowa, Prowers and Baca counties showed improvement over the previous week, moving to moderate and severe drought. A small portion of northeast Kiowa County shifted into abnormally dry conditions, while much of Baca County has shed extreme drought over the past month as early summer storms continue to bring much-needed moisture to the area.
While southwest Colorado continues to suffer under the worst category of drought conditions, the northeast portion of the state showed improvement following an increase in spring rain and thunderstorms.
Abnormally dry conditions continued to recede from the northeast, leaving more than 20 percent of the state free from drought. Moderate drought was also in decline for Adams, Arapahoe and northern Elbert county, moving those areas into abnormally dry conditions. Severe drought dropped to moderate conditions in parts of Elbert and Lincoln counties.
