A few weeks ago, rancher Noah Brooks said what was troubling him most was the weather.
鈥淭he fact that it didn鈥檛 rain, June, July, August but maybe three times, that this community runs around cattle and feed and if we don鈥檛 get some rain, we鈥檙e in big big trouble, and I think that we鈥檙e drying out,鈥� he said.
Brooks lives in Clark, Colorado. But the conditions he describes are persistent throughout the region.
The from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly all of Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico in some form of drought.
鈥淭he weak monsoon season really stands out as well as the extreme heat that we鈥檝e experienced all summer long and moving into the fall months as well,鈥� said David Simeral, a climatologist based at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada.
Simeral is also one of ten authors behind the National Drought Monitor, although he did not author the latest report. Simeral said early and rapid snowpack melting in the spring also contributed to the dry conditions.
Simeral says the four corners region is especially parched.
Currently, thirteen percent of Utah is in exceptional drought, the most dire classification.
鈥淭hese drought conditions are not expected to let up, so for our farmers and ranchers, that鈥檚 the growing concern,鈥� said Anastasia Thayer, an agricultural and natural resource specialist at Utah State University.
Nevada and New Mexico are also showing drought stress. The from a monsoon season letdown.
An from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows dry conditions will persist for much of the region through the end of the year.
The is produced jointly by federal agencies and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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