For the first time since December 2021, all of Colorado is in a drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor published on Thursday.

The Pikes Peak region was the only part of the state that was not in a drought until this week, when parts of El Paso, Fremont, Pueblo and Teller counties moved from abnormally dry to experiencing moderate drought.

The percentage of El Paso County in moderate drought increased from 0% to 100% from the beginning of April to the end of the month. The county has not been entirely in a drought since March 2022, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Those conditions were exacerbated by prolonged above-average temperatures, causing the lowest snowpack in Colorado’s recorded history to melt earlier than usual.

The state hasn’t seen comparable snowpacks since the 1970s and ’80s when its population was much smaller, Allie Mazurek, an engagement climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University, told The Gazette.

“I think there’s concern over what that will look like in a modern Colorado,” Mazurek said. “I don’t think we totally have the answer because this isn’t something that we’ve experienced before.”

The National Weather Service in Pueblo has issued 50 red flag warnings for fire risk this year, surpassing all of 2024 and 2025, which each had 49. Before this year, the most red flag warnings that weather officials issued by May 1 was 36 in 2022, according to weather service data.

According to the NWS Climate Prediction Center, Colorado has an equal chance for above and below seasonal precipitation heading into the summer as climate models project an active southwest monsoon and the tropical Pacific to shift from a neutral state to El Niño in the late summer or fall.

Those conditions often create increased precipitation for Colorado when both occur at the same time, which Mazurek said are reasons to be “cautiously optimistic.” Still, she said there isn’t a “one-to-one correlation” between the phenomena and increased rainfall in the region.

Despite this week’s precipitation, Colorado will need to reach close to average precipitation in the water year, which runs from October to September, and recuperate from limited runoff, according to Mazurek.

“We obviously are expecting a much lower volume of water to be running off, given the snowpack numbers we saw over the winter, so I think there are concerns about how long these drought conditions will last,” Mazurek said.

Lower-elevation cities, like many in southeast Colorado, remain above their water-year average in precipitation, but are behind normal snowfall totals.

Through April, Colorado Springs recorded 4.9 inches of precipitation this water year, over a half inch above average, according to weather service data. In the same time period, the city saw 24.7 inches of snowfall, about 23% below average.