Warm temperatures and a lack of snow have put the metro area in severe drought for the first time in more than a year.
Most of Denver and portions of neighboring counties were escalated to “severe drought” in the latest weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. That's the second tier of four drought classifications, and it comes with heightened risks of fire and water shortages.
Denver had been in a lower-level drought since mid-December. And with temperatures in the mid-60s this week, forecasters expect the drought to continue for the near future.
Nearly 80 percent of the county’s landmass is in severe drought, a dramatic increase from recent weeks. Denver hasn’t been free of drought since July. Portions of nearby Weld, Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas and Jefferson counties also are experiencing severe drought.
The situation is even more dire in the mountains, where a sparse year for snowfall has put counties around the Interstate 70 corridor in extreme or even exceptional drought.
“All you need, really, is a single day of extreme warming in the winter to cause all kinds of cascading impacts that really matter, especially to the Mountain West,” Kaitlyn Trudeau, a Senior Research Associate at Climate Central, told the Mountain West News Bureau.
Denver last experienced severe drought in November 2024. The city has not seen the next level — extreme drought — since February 2022.
