Yesterday NOAA released its spring drought and flood risk predictions and in it are some good and bad news for Colorado. 

First, the good news.  With the extraordinary amount of snow the mountains have experienced this winter, the chances of drought are negligible for most of the state.  The southeastern corner of Colorado however could see some risk.

Second, the bad news.  With all that snow comes a risk of flooding.  The danger could be especially great if we experience a warmer than normal spring and the mountain runoff occurs too quickly.  Most of the state, with the exception of the northeast corner, runs above normal risks of flooding this spring.  Locations in the mountains of Colorado have 150 to 200 percent of average water contained in snowpack leading to a higher than normal flood potential.  Flooding is the number one weather killer in the country so everyone needs to be aware of the dangers this presents! 

For more information, please see NOAA’s report here.