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Denver's off to its snowiest start to a year on record

All this snow and precipitation is helping take a bite out of Denver's historic drought.

DENVER — We ended 2021 desperate for moisture and snow.

When the Marshall Fire sparked Dec. 30, strong wind, drought and bitterly dry conditions helped the fire spread quickly.

The next day, Denver received nearly 5 inches of snow. We haven't had a week without snow since then, which is helping improve drought conditions.

Since the start of the year, Denver's picked up more than 28 inches of snow at its Central Park station, the snowiest start to a year on record in Denver.

That trend continued on Wednesday night, with another 5 inches of snow in Denver. That brings us up to about a foot of snow so far this February - more than our full-month average.

Credit: KUSA

All of this snow and moisture is finally starting to put a dent into our drought. Earlier on Thursday, the official drought monitor improved Denver from a severe drought to a moderate one. And that doesn't even count the precipitation from our most recent storm.

Credit: KUSA
Drought monitor map on February 17th, 2022.

The one problem, though? The Front Range is getting a lot of snow, but most of the mountains are missing out. Snowpack dropped below 100% of its season-to-date average for the first time since late December.

Still, though, all of this recent moisture is helping.

Since Dec. 30, Denver's more than doubled its usual precipitation over that time span. 

And there's more snow on the way next week, continuing our exceptionally active pattern.

Credit: KUSA

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Credit: KUSA

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