The drought continues in southeastern Colorado
Colorado may be as pretty as a painting, but right now the only color on the artists’ pallette in the southeastern part of the state is brown.
Dr. Paul Wolyn of the National Weather Service office in Pueblo said, “parts of the eastern plains are still in severe drought.”
Even though there has been some improvement: “places like Lamar, Springfield had some summer precipitation,” said Dr. Wolyn, the rains in that part of the state continue to be too light and too infrequent to end a long running dry spell.
“The last good year (for precipitation) was 2010,” said Dr. Wolyn.
Dry weather isn’t just bad for farmers. It’s a story that Dwayne Simmons knows too well.
“There’s dry conditions every year it seems like,” he said.
He owns Tamarack Horse Boarding. He has to make sure that the horses don’t spend too much timeout in the pasture, and it’s not because of the cold weather.
“We can’t have the horses overgrazing,” said Simmons.
But there’sgood news for some people in southeastern Colorado, courtesy of the mountains. The heavy snow that has fallen this winter will be melting and making its wayinto the river, helping to alleviate the drought for the thousands of people who rely on the river for water.
Dr. Wolyn said, “for water supplies issues, at least for the amount of snow pack that we have, it’s looking favorable.”
While higher river levels are great, people in the plains are hoping for more rain and snow to take care of another problem that has come from all of this dry weather, the blowing dust.
People in the plains need more rain and snow, and less wind, in the months ahead.
