Is Colorado Still in a Drought?

After today’s snow accumulation of 4 inches in south metro Denver and up to a foot in central Denver and the northwest suburbs, you may wonder, is Colorado still in a drought?

While it helps this year, mandatory water restrictions are still in effect and are almost certain to remain so in 2013.

Droughts are multi-year events and and water officials treat them as such.

“As of today (April 15, 2013), we would need 4 feet of snow in our mountain watersheds to get to a normal snowpack; however, even with a normal snowpack our reservoirs still would not completely fill this year. But, every little drop helps.” – Denver Water

The following chart measures the water level for the South Platte Watershed. The blue line is this year’s snowpack.

 

As you can see we are still at about 65% of average after a below average year in 2012. With a longer term forecast of dryness, expect watering restrictions to remain.

Will this late snow affect the lawn fertilization I just did?

No – if anything it’s the perfect outcome. Pre-emergent weed killer is applied to lawns in early spring. Pre-emergent, or pre-m for short, prevents the seeds of broadleaf weeds and dandelions from germinating before they emerge. It must be applied before the soil reaches a temperature of about 55°.

So if you thought ahead and applied a pre-emergent to your lawn, then it snows, that is actually the perfect outcome. Pre-emergent is water activated so when it melts the application will go right to work. Secondly, since the snow is keeping the soil temperature low, the pre-emergent and fertilizer application will establish itself before the broadleafs can.

No need to worry about the snow hurting  all the lawn work you did. It only helped.

More articles on drought preparedness and treatments? click here!