DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO 800 AM MDT THU OCT 09 2008 ...MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS PERSIST ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST COLORADO... SYNOPSIS... THE LATEST US DROUGHT MONITOR CONTINUES TO INDICATE SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS OVER MOST OF BACA AND PROWERS COUNTIES...ALONG WITH EXTREME PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST BENT COUNTY. MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE INDICATED ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN BACA COUNTY AND NORTHERN PORTIONS OF PROWERS COUNTY...ALONG WITH THE REST OF BENT COUNTY. MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE ALSO INDICATED ACROSS ALL OF KIOWA AND OTERO COUNTIES...ALONG WITH EASTERN PORTIONS OF LAS ANIMAS COUNTY AND SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF CROWLEY COUNTY. ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS ARE REFLECTED ACROSS THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS...INCLUDING THE SAN LUIS AND WET MOUNTAIN VALLEYS...THE MID ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY...THE INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR AND THE REST OF THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... FIRE DANGER IMPACTS. THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE WILDLAND FIRE AND ASSESSMENT SYSTEM INDICATES MAINLY MODERATE FIRE DANGER ACROSS SOUTHEAST COLORADO. AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS. THE USDA CROP REPORT INDICATED PASTURE AND RANGELAND RATED IN MOSTLY FAIR TO GOOD CONDITION. CLIMATE SUMMARY... TEMPERATURES IN SEPTEMBER WERE GENERALLY NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS WITH NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE READINGS OBSERVED IN THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH VALLEYS. THE PRIMARY OBSERVATION SITES AT COLORADO SPRINGS AND ALAMOSA WERE 0.5 AND 0.3 DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE...RESPECTIVELY. THE PRIMARY SITE AT PUEBLO WAS 0.9 DEGREES BELOW AVERAGE FOR SEPTEMBER. PRECIPITATION WAS GENERALLY BELOW AVERAGE IN SEPTEMBER WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW SPOTTY LOCATIONS ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. THE PRIMARY OBSERVATION SITES AT PUEBLO AND ALAMOSA WERE 0.07 AND 0.68 INCHES BELOW AVERAGE...RESPECTIVELY. THE PRIMARY SITE AT COLORADO SPRINGS WAS ONE OF THE LOCATIONS THAT SAW ABOVE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION WITH 4.97 INCHES BEING RECORDED IN SEPTEMBER...WHICH IS 3.74 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. OTHER OBSERVATION SITES ACROSS SOUTHEAST COLORADO ALSO INDICATED BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION IN SEPTEMBER...WITH 7S CAMPO 0.59...EADS 0.30...JOHN MARTIN DAM 0.74...LAS ANIMAS 0.62...20S LA JUNTA 0.76...LAMAR 0.47...TRINIDAD 0.69 AND 1W WALSH 0.61 INCHES BELOW AVERAGE...RESPECTIVELY. HERE ARE A FEW PRECIPITATION STATISTICS FOR SELECT LOCATIONS THROUGH THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2008: ...............OBSERVED...........NORMAL.......PERCENT OF NORMAL.. ALS AIRPORT......3.55...INCHES.....5.77...INCHES..........62 COS AIRPORT.....12.43.............15.60...................80 PUB AIRPORT......8.94.............10.57...................85 CAMPO 7S.........8.01.............15.14...................53 EADS.............8.22.............13.56...................61 JOHN MARTIN DAM..7.25.............11.91...................61 LAS ANIMAS.......9.75.............11.40...................86 LA JUNTA 20S.....8.92.............12.66...................70 LAMAR...........10.20.............13.90...................73 TRINIDAD........10.28.............13.63...................75 WALSH 1W........12.37.............15.68...................79 PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... THE OUTLOOK FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER ACROSS SOUTHEAST COLORADO FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS INCLUDES GENERALLY BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION. THE OUTLOOK FOR REST OF OCTOBER...NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER INDICATES THAT TEMPERATURES WILL MOST LIKELY BE ABOVE NORMAL...WITH NEAR OR BELOW AVERAGE PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE PERIOD. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... STREAMFLOW IN SEPTEMBER WAS GENERALLY NEAR AVERAGE. SOIL MOISTURE WAS GENERALLY NEAR AVERAGE IN AUGUST...WITH POCKETS OF BELOW AVERAGE MOISTURE OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND POCKETS OF ABOVE AVERAGE MOISTURE OVER THE EASTERN PLAINS. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 10TH OR SOONER IF NECESSARY IN RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN CONDITIONS. RELATED WEB SITES... ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES: U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...
http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
SOUTHEAST AND SOUTH CENTRAL COLORADO PRECIPITATION AND DROUGHT MONITOR...
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/?n=new_local_drought_page.php
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...THE USDA...STATE AND REGIONAL CENTER CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 3 EATON WAY PUEBLO CO 81007 PHONE: 719-948-9429 W-PUB.webmaster@noaa.gov MW