Colorado is Drought Free for the First Time in Years

The state of Colorado is experiencing something that it hasn't had in quite a while. Zero drought conditions. Not a single place in the state is dealing with drought or abnormally dry conditions according to Drought.gov.

Parts of Colorado have either experienced abnormally dry conditions or some form of drought in the first half of 2023. As of the beginning of July, the state is pretty well saturated.

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The last time Colorado was drought-free

It's been a few years since the state of Colorado has been drought-free. Colorado has faced some form of drought over the past four years. The last time the entire state saw drought-free conditions was in 2019. Before 2019, you would have to look back another decade to 2009 to find any time when Colorado was not in a drought. In 2009, Colorado saw a bit of drought relief a the end of July and into August.

Drought and wildfires in Colorado

In 2020, Colorado experienced the second-worst drought conditions in two decades according to KDVR. Colorado was covered by extreme drought conditions in 74 percent of the state. The same year as the second worst drought conditions in two decades also happened to be the year that the Cameron Peak Fire happened.

The Cameron Peak Fire started on August 13, 2020, and burned more than 208,000 acres before being fully contained nearly four months later on December 2, 2020.

This year's weather has been one for the history books with all of the rain and severe weather. I will say that I don't think I can remember a time when I have seen the foothills and the mountains so green.