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Parts Of Colorado Classified As 'Severe Drought'

By Jeff Todd

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4)- Nearly all of Colorado is now abnormally dry or worse on the U.S. Drought Monitor.

"This isn't unprecedented but it's certainly on the low end of the distribution. It looks somewhat similar to what we saw in the 2002 and 2012 type drought years," said Peter Goble with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

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A majority of southwestern Colorado is now in the classified as severe drought.

"This is largely based off of a concerningly low snow year in the western portion of Colorado," Goble said. Adding that there is only a five percent chance the mountains in the San Juan Mountains reaches average or normal amounts.

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Peter Goble with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University (credit: CBS)

Water managers say despite the lacking snowpack Colorado's reservoirs are at or above average.

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But many are looking toward the end of the winter and hoping for precipitation packed storms.

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(credit: CBS)

"If you look especially at the eight to 14 day timeframe, the things aren't necessarily lining up to get worse. They're also not lining up to fix all the problems. Our primary focus will be snow just because as that snow melts out in the spring it recharges our springs and reservoirs and our soils," Goble said.

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(credit: CBS)

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.

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