Drought across western Colorado worsens

The drought situation in western Colorado is going from bad to worse and experts say that these extreme conditions may last for quite a while.

We haven't seen a major snowfall in weeks and this is only adding insult to injury in terms of our drought situation.

With the snow pack only around 60 percent for most areas, all of western Colorado is currently under a severe drought and the northwest and central mountains are in an extreme drought. The drought crisis is something that's been building for quite some time.

“(We had) a low snow pack year that we had last year and a very warm and dry march last year. Then we went into the summer and it was dry and warm” said Aldis Strautins, Hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Juction.

Hydrologists look at many factors when determining the severity of a drought including impacts on the population, amounts of precipitation, soil moisture, and more.

Overall, there is both good and bad news. The good news is that we're going to be getting some snow this weekend and we still have about half of our snow season left. The bad news is the long term outlook over the next few months, which calls for above normal temperatures and below average precipitation across western Colorado.