What Happened To The Moisture? Almost All Of Colorado's Front Range Now Has Severe Drought

DENVER (CBS) - After a wet start to the year, moisture decreased along Colorado's Front Range during this summer as it almost always does. But precipitation has not returned since summer, which is not normal.

While the Colorado mountains have seen several snowstorms so far this season, Denver has yet to see the first measurable snow of the season and only 1.03" of rain has been officially measured in the city since July 1. That's only 16% of what's considered normal for the the 19 weeks between July and the middle of November. It's also a record for the least precipitation ever recorded in Denver between July 1 and November 10 since records began in 1876.

The result of the recent dry weather is drought that is getting significantly worse. Last week about 95% of Colorado was drier than normal. It's the same percentage this week but the severity of the drought got worse for just one region of the state: the Front Range urban corridor.

Severe drought has increased 3% in Colorado in the last 7 days and the increase is almost entirely in Weld County. A week ago Weld County has mostly moderate drought and it's now severe drought for virtually the entire county including all of Greeley, Evans, Windsor, Milliken, Johnstown, Firestone and Frederick.

Not much relief in the cards for the weekend into Tuesday when the next measurements are taken for next weeks drought monitor. As a result, conditions are expected to get worse next week with unseasonably warm temperatures and more wind set to kick off next week.