Monsoon season helps ease drought in Southwest

DENVER (AP) – A generous monsoon season has helped ease drought conditions in the Southwest but parts of the hard-hit southern plains still have a long way to go.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday said that between 2 and 6 inches of rain fell in storms last week across the plains of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, which have been stuck in a drought for nearly four years. However, report author Brad Rippey says they’ll need extended rain and snowfall to make up for the 20 to 30 inches of moisture they’ve lost during that time.

Rangeland and pasture in New Mexico and Arizona and are still fairly dry but conditions have improved. While all of Colorado was in some stage of drought a year ago, now just 40 percent is.