Weather pattern likely to bring moisture to Denver, eastern Colorado in April

DENVER -- The eastern half of Colorado could soon see some relief from the warm, dry weather that has been a staple of the last few weeks of this winter.

The March 7 U.S. Drought Monitor report shows half of Colorado is abnormally dry, but approximately one-third of the state is experiencing moderate drought conditions. The moderate drought conditions exist in portions of each county east of the Rockies.

But late March and early April are likely to bring a stormy weather pattern into Colorado to bring some much-needed moisture to the eastern part of the state, according to Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson.

“The good news is the weather has been nice, but it’s been too nice. The storm track is going to get back in early April, so April probably won’t be as pleasant,” Nelson said.

Nelson says that the eastern half of the state has received about half the snowfall it receives during a normal winter, which has led to drought, wildfire and flooding concerns.
“It’s very likely we’ll have some good, soggy storms coming into Colorado in April,” Nelson said.

He says that warm temperatures in the mountains have also led to the early melting of some of the snowpack, though it is still above-average across Colorado. Nelson says that ideally, mountain highs during the day will stay in the 50s or below and lows will dip below freezing in order to keep the snow melting gradually.

But if temperatures stay above-normal, a faster snow melt would exacerbate flooding concerns when the spring rain arrives, Nelson said. And on the contrary, if temperatures stay cool in the mountains and lead to a late snow melt, flooding could also be a concern, he said.

But Nelson says the incoming moisture should do well to stem some of the concerns about a long and rough wildfire season in Colorado after a fairly dry last year overall.

For the latest forecasts and weather conditions from Nelson and the rest of the Denver7 weather team, head over to the Denver7 weather page.