Drought levels on the increase in Colorado, report shows, especially on the Eastern Plains.
The entire eastern half of Colorado is either abnormally dry or under drought conditions, the U.S. Drought Monitor said in a report Thursday, as warm, arid weather continues to take its toll.
The report classifies about 52 percent of the state as abnormally dry with another 37 percent of Colorado under moderate drought.
The dry weather has been blamed for contributing to wildfires across the eastern half of Colorado, including a 32,000-acre blaze in Logan and Phillips counties that burned several homes and killed about 200 cattle.
As of Tuesday, the snowpack was 135 percent of normal.
“They’re still hanging around about 100 percent of normal.
“On the plains, we’ve been extremely dry,” he said.
All of the fuels out there, they are still brown and dead and haven’t started their spring green up.
With the warm temperatures and the dry conditions, it may be slow to green up this year.” February, for instance, recorded several days of record-breaking heat in Denver.
“It doesn’t look like there is going to be much relief,” Mozley said.