Dry March in Northern Colorado Leads to the Thirteenth Driest on Record

According to the Coloradoan, March ended up being one of the driest months in Fort Collins history and is hopefully not a precursor to a higher chance of wildfire risks.

The month ended up being the 13th driest on record in Fort Collins, with only .21 inches of precipitation falling the entire month. With only 3.8 inches of snow falling in March, that made it the 31st least snowiest March, with record keeping stretching 127 years. With the March snowfall included, that puts the city of Fort Collins at 38 inches of snowfall for the season which is 11 inches less than at this time last year.

If the precipitation numbers weren't telling a big enough story, the temperatures will. The average temperature in March was 60 degrees, making it the seventh warmest month on record. That temperature also places it 5.3 degrees above the average temperature for this time of year.

Statewide, snowpack is depleting at an alarming rate with it being 69 percent of normal as of Friday which puts it on par with the 2012 season. Of course, that season was followed by wildfires that had it's effects felt across the state. Locally, that was the season of the High Park Fire and the Hewlett Gulch Fire in Larimer County.

Of course keep your fingers crossed that we could get another 1-2 punch in Winter weather in April, which happens quite often in Northern Colorado. A late season snowfall could easily bounce back the region for precipitation totals and lessen the risk of wildfires this Summer.