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Historical Perspectives on Colorado Drought -_'"'L_"'!. ----.....::...--- --:=-..._=--- -:"::..... .. -=-....::::=-....: la . --:7" - " -- .'" ---====-- --... - -.--=:---- -,.........:::::..-~- --~-~~~_. ~ severe impact on the Colorado Front Range and only light to moderate impact on mountain precipitation may have overly influenced water supply planners into using it as a model of sorts. Unfortunately, severe drought can simultaneously impact the entire stale and negate a strategy based on plains drought but ample mountain snows. Colorado Drought Plan prompted by 1970's drought ~ An extreme hut brief drought period returned for the fall of 1980 into the summer of 1981. This drought again took aim at the Colorado high country and ski industry and initiatt..'<1 a huge investment in snow making equipment. It also stimulated the writing of the "Colorado Drought Response Plan" and the formation of the "Water Availability Task Force" which has been meeting at least once a quarter each year since 1981. '. Assoo.1ttdPrnslH:ktOr<OffSlu ! Page 4 999-2002. 1 2000) with est based (McKee et a1. HDR Engineering. Inc. Printed on 30% post-consumer recycled content paper The Severe Mountain Drought of the' 9705 Colorado's last period of sustained multi-year drought in the 20th century occurred from 1974-1981. The record-breaking winter drought of 1976-1977. the driest winter in recorded history for much of Colorado's high country and Western Slope culminated this drought. Statewide weather modification activities were launcht..'during the winter seasons "",th hopes of increasing the mountain snow pack. Only limited success was reported before snows briefly returned to the mountains for 1979-1980. Snow-making equipment in operation ! ! ! ! ! , ; . . Fraction of Colorado in drought Figure 1 . . ! Many of the drought dates presented in the preceding discussion and table arc mirrored in the time series plot shown below. The plot shows the fractional percent of Colorado immersed in at least moderate drought from 1890 to 2002. It is clear that the most prominent droughts in recorded history. those with the longest time-span and largest aerial e:ttent. occurred at the turn of the twentieth century (I 890s-carly 1900s). the 1 930s. the early- to mid.1950s. the mid. tolate-1970s and the recent 1999-2002 drought. ! ! ! ! ! ! ; h ! ; ; ; ! ! ! ! . , . ! ! ! ! . . . . . " . . . !