Above-average spring and summer rains have helped break a 3½-year drought in La Plata County.
“This country hasn’t looked this green this time of year in easily two years, if not longer,” said Sterling Moss, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Durango.
Higher-than-average precipitation in the region could continue into the winter if El Niño patterns persist, said Jim Pringle, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
“It looks highly likely La Plata County should stay out of any drought classification,” Pringle said.
The official drought designation for the Durango area ended June 16. But it has persisted for the southern portion of La Plata County, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The last time the county was completely drought-free was January 2012. There was also a brief reprieve from drought for most of the county from November 2013 through January 2014, according to the monitor.
Durango has received about 12.6 inches of rain so far this year, a little more than half of the yearly average, Pringle said.
Spring dust storms that blew away valuable topsoil in recent years in southwestern La Plata County were replaced this year by persistent rain showers. They gave rise to a healthy crop of weeds that are providing ground cover that could help keep the soil in place, although the vegetation may not last, Moss said.
Abundant rainfall also helped fill local reservoirs, which is part of the equation when deciding whether a region is in drought, Pringle said.
The drought has eased across the state and the greater Four Corners.
Data from the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center has parts of Utah leaving the drought behind, too, and fall rain is expected to improve conditions in Arizona and areas of Nevada and California.
In the near term, heavy thunderstorms are predicted Saturday and Sunday for the Durango area, Pringle said.
“Some storms could produce localized flooding; that definitely is a potential,” he said.
More rain is expected Sunday than Saturday, he said, and storms are expected to be scattered throughout the region.
mshinn@durangoherald.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
