Drought and precipitation, 2020 vs. this spring in Colorado (maps and info)
May 11, 2021 Colorado =======
June 1, 2021 Colorado =======
293,000 square miles of the Southwest are in exceptional drought. (including western parts of Colorado). Scientists are calling it a “mega-drought” brought on by climate change. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Map shows large areas of the Southwest are “exceptionally dry,” the worst category. Colorado, however, has more than half the state moving into the “None” category, which includes Boulder and Larimer County.
Lake Mead seems to be the focus of most meteorologist and scientist’s barometer as to how bad the drought is in the Southwest. Lake Mead is at just 37% of its capacity. It hasn’t been full since back in 2000. At that time the water came up to the top of Hoover Dam. Since 2000, Lake Mead has dropped 130 feet (think of the height of a 13-story building). It’s most dramatic impact has been on the Colorado River system that provides water to 40 million people in seven states. It may force the federal government to make a drastic and historic decisions.
For the month of May, the east half of the state had -80% precipitation, and the west side had +150% precipitation.
The heavy precipitation that we got May 3 may be giving us a false sense of security.
United States as of January 8, 2021
Ranking in PRECIPITATION for Year 2020====
United States as of June 4, 2021 PRECIPITATION
Ranking for Month of May 2021====
As of June 8th === West, US
· The warmest temperatures in the region were over California and Nevada, where departures for the week were 3-6 degrees above normal. Most of the rest of the region was near normal for temperatures. Most of the West was dry for the week but eastern New Mexico and western Montana received enough precipitation to allow for some improvements to their drought status. Impacts are building in the region with water cutback anticipated on Lake Mead as it is currently 37% full and fell below the critical 1,075-foot level triggering cutbacks to Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico. Abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions were improved over western Montana while New Mexico had a large area of exceptional drought improve due to recent rains. In Washington, conditions continue to dry out, and abnormally dry and both moderate and severe drought conditions continued to expand.== Degradation took place in Wyoming where extreme drought was introduced in the northeast and moderate and severe drought expanded in the central and southwest portions of the state, with just a small pocket improved in the southwest.
High Plains=== Colorado, US
A mostly dry week for the region, with some late precipitation in the period over North Dakota that will be addressed next week when the full extent of the rains can be taken into account. Some areas of Colorado had above-normal precipitation for the week. The plains of Colorado remained wet and further improvements were made to the abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions in the central portion of the state.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.