DENVER — The spring snowstorm that hit Colorado last week eased the severe, extreme and exceptional categories of drought in the state, but there was little overall improvement.
According to the latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday morning, 82% of the state still remains under at least a "severe drought" level. That is down slightly from 86% from a map released on May 7.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classifies the intensity of drought as abnormally dry (D0), moderate drought (D1), severe drought (D2), extreme drought (D3), and exceptional drought (D4).
Currently, 14.52% of the state, mostly in northwest Colorado, is under exceptional drought. Before the recent snowstorm, that number hovered around 17%.
Below is the U.S. Drought Monitor's map released on Thursday.
The areas that saw the most improvement post-storm were north-central and the northeastern plains of the state.
Below is the U.S. Drought Monitor's map released last week for comparison.
Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo reported on May 7 that the storm provided some benefit to the state's snowpack, but she cautioned that drought concerns remain and reservoirs remain well below normal levels.
As of data available on Thursday morning, Colorado's snowpack statewide is 14% of median.
State Climatologist Russ Schumacher warned in mid-February that Colorado would need to see "essentially record-breaking high snowfall" in March and April — which tend to be the state's snowiest months — to get back to average snowpack by the spring.
That did not happen.
"The little bit of hope we have here is that it does look like probably later this year we will go into El Niño," Schumacher said. "El Niño, on the whole, tends to be wetter across Colorado, not as much in the winter, but especially in the summer and fall."
In April, Denver7 spoke with Schumacher again about the outlook. While some parts of the mountains saw some precipitation early in the month, much of eastern Colorado was dry and hurting farmers.
Denver7 spoke with farmers on the eastern plains about how they are coping with these conditions. Watch our report below.
"The snowpack is in the worst shape it's ever been in at this time of year," he said in April. "We're in for some serious concerns related to water supply, stream flow, inflows into reservoirs in the mountains this later this spring and into the summer, because we've never had such little snow in the mountains at this time of year, and that's the source of our water."
He reiterated his hope from February about a wetter spring.
"In the near term, there's not really much to be optimistic about, but looking ahead, you know, if we look out a few months, the early indications from the climate outlooks are that the monsoon season might be more active than usual," he said. "As we get later into the summer, we're probably going to go into El Niño later this year, which tends to be wetter, certainly wetter than La Niña for Colorado."
April and May can be the wettest times of the year for Colorado, he told Denver7 in April, noting the so-called "Miracle May" of 2015.
"Basically, the whole snowpack was in bad shape, not as bad as this year, but it was in bad shape that year, and then May came around, and the whole state was getting 45, 68 inches of rain," he said. "So, a month like that, you know, is what we need right now."
