In true Colorado fashion, we saw a big variety of weather over the holiday weekend, including some much needed rainfall.
With almost an inch of rain reported at the Colorado Springs Airport last Sunday, we saw our highest single-day rainfall total of 2020.
In fact, it was the wettest day in more than a year. We have to go all the way back to May 20, 2019, when a massive late-spring storm brought 1.71" of precipitation to the Springs. Interestingly enough, some of that precipitation fell as snow.
Recent rainfall from the holiday weekend is beneficial to Southern Colorado, and we're hoping to see improvements soon to our state's ongoing drought.
Let's check out the latest weekly drought monitor from last Thursday. You can see here areas of moderate to severe drought over parts of El Paso, Pueblo and Fremont counties. Extreme drought continues over more than 17% of our state, including parts of the San Luis Valley, Raton Mesa and southern mountain ranges, as well as the eastern Plains.
Looking ahead, rain chances remain fairly low in Colorado Springs through Wednesday. However, several disturbances late this week will increase our daily afternoon thunderstorm chances, which will likely continue through the upcoming weekend.
Looking at the precipitation outlook for the first week of June, we see greater chances of above average precip for the southwestern corner of the state.
The latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center also shows a good chance of near to slightly above average precip for areas near I-25, including Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Unfortunately, there's a better chance of below average rainfall next week for the Plains, an area that desperately needs rain.
One last thing that should help us late this spring is the melting mountain snowpack. This should provide a boost to lakes and reservoirs in drought-stricken areas.
