Colorado drought monitor

Where Colorado stands

How the year has run

Each column is one week, oldest on the left. The taller the color, the more of Colorado was dry that week.

• Four weeks ago 90% of the state was in drought — about where it stands now.
• This week last year 47% of Colorado was in drought, on the map for August 12, 2025.
• Worst week of the past year 100% in drought, on April 28, 2026.

What this means for burning in Colorado

Drought is the reason most burn bans go up. Counties watch how dry the ground and the standing brush are, and a county commission can put a ban in place the week after the map turns — or leave one off while a neighboring county has one, because the call is theirs to make.

No Colorado county is under a burn ban right now. See the county-by-county list.

A dry map is not a burn ban, and neither is this page. Rules change fast in dry weather — confirm with your county fire marshal or burn line before you light.

Colorado drought county by county

64 of 64 counties have moderate drought or worse somewhere inside them. Driest first. County figures are from the map for August 11, 2026.

County links go to that county's burn ban status.

What the drought classes mean

D4 · Exceptional drought

Exceptional and widespread crop and pasture losses, with water emergencies in reservoirs, streams and wells.

D3 · Extreme drought

Major crop and pasture losses, and widespread water shortages or restrictions.

D2 · Severe drought

Crop and pasture losses likely, water shortages common, and water restrictions usually in force.

D1 · Moderate drought

Some damage to crops and pasture, streams and wells running low, and voluntary water-use cutbacks in some places.

D0 · Abnormally dry

Going into or coming out of drought — short-term dryness slowing planting or growth. Not drought yet, but the step before it.

The map comes from the U.S. Drought Monitor, put together each week by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with NOAA and the USDA. We read their state and county figures every week and show them here — the Monitor's own Colorado map is the picture these numbers describe.

← Drought in every state we watch