This year’s missing monsoon finally showed up the night of Aug. 22. By the next morning, Saturday, a much wetter, greener, cooler world greeted Ouray County residents and summer visitors.
Interestingly, the county’s wettest reporting station wasn’t in or near the mountains or towns. It just happened to be a CoCo-RaHS station on the northern county boundary with 0.38 inches of moisture (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow at CSU, Fort Collins, cocorahs. org). Several other CoCoRaHS sites also reported significant, wetting rain (more than 0.10 inches). A station near the old Portland townsite reported 0.24 inches; Ouray had 0.19 inches; two Log Hill stations reported 0.16 and 0.11 inches; and Ridgway had 0.13 and 0.10 inches.
The summer’s hot temperatures suddenly disappeared. Through the first 24 days of August, highs averaged 83-plus degrees in Ouray. By Monday morning, temps were in the 70s, with even cooler days predicted for this week and the beginning of September.
Friday afternoon, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction sounded upbeat about rain possibilities, closing his short term weather post with, “We’ll take it.” While Grand Junction received little rain on Aug. 22, in eastern Mesa County a CoCoRaHS station reported 1 inch the morning of Aug. 23.
Ouray’s historical precipitation records show that the driest recorded monsoon season (July-September), in 1979, yielded just 1.89 inches of rain.
As of Aug. 21, our very scant, late 2025 monsoon appeared to be in the running to break that record. A measly 1.57 inches of rain had fallen since July 1. By Monday morning, however, this year’s monsoon precipitation was 2.01 inches — still not much — but significant rain was forecast for the weeks ahead.
But we’re far from being out of this droughty, fire-prone forest nightmare.
From 1944-2006, Ouray’s average yearly monsoon accumulation was 6.41 inches. In the last 15-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration compilation (2006-2020), however, average monsoon rainfall increased to 7.40 inches as the local climate also heated up.
As of Tuesday morning, Ouray’s precipitation total for the water year stretching from October 2024 to September 2025 was only 16.19 inches — with slightly more than a month to go. That’s just 67% of the new normal yearly precipitation, 24.07 inches. This summer’s late monsoon and droughty last fall, winter and spring also increased the extreme drought in most of Ouray County.
All of western Colorado and most of the Southwest are also in severe to exceptional drought as of this writing. (See U.S. Drought Monitor, https://droughtmonitor. unl.edu) Last Sunday evening, though, CBS reported some very good fire news for Colorado: “For over 20 days, the Lee Fire has continued to burn, becoming the state’s (fifth) largest wildfire in history. As of Sunday afternoon, the fire is approximately 90% contained.” (Christa Swanson, “Flash flooding, mudslides reported near Lee Fire in western Colorado, Aug. 24.) The weekend’s heavy rains not only reduced the fire threat but also created mudslides that blocked County Road 5 near the fire scene in Rio Blanco County and closed other county roads as well.
On Saturday, a lengthy monsoon post by another meteorologist in Grand Junction noted that “the increasing moisture is evident just about anywhere you look,” and warned that “moisture returns with a vengeance tonight as the high starts to slip to the east and the deep subtropical moisture plume moves more directly overhead.” The post concluded, “… the monsoon is a tricky beast. All it takes is a passing wave so subtle that models can’t pick up on it, and we’ll be socked in the clouds. Or for overnight convection to die off much sooner, and we see even more sunshine than expected.” (Area Forecast Discussion, forecastweather.gov, Aug. 23.)
Most importantly, the current monsoon weather has cooled everything and everyone off, reduced extreme fire behavior and given hot, dry western Colorado communities and people some breathing room. By Sunday and Monday, highs in the low 70s rather than the 80s and 90s made outdoor activities feel much more appealing. Ouray’s summer highs peaked on Friday with the city’s first 90 degree day; by Monday, the daily high had fallen to 73. Gardening and working outdoors were enjoyable for the first time in weeks.
Much heavier precipitation is predicted for Ouray and the county this week, including flash flooding warnings that extend from Cortez east to Pagosa Springs and north to Meeker. Through the end of meteorological summer this Sunday, Ouray can expect persistent rain with cooler temps and a hint of fall in the air.
Highs are predicted to be in the 60s and 70s, with lows in the high 40 to low 50s.
Looking ahead to the beginning of meteorological fall this upcoming Labor Day, a continued wet pattern for next week is emerging. Snow could appear on the highest peaks.
Karen Risch gardens, records weather for NOAA and C0CoRahs, writes and hikes in Ouray. Her Wunderground weather station ID is KCOOURAY3, transmitting weather from latitude N381’ 34”, longitude W107 40’21”, Elevation 7,736’. A purpleair.com air quality monitor RISCH operates at the same location.
