A beautiful double rainbow! Photo credit to follower Shaunna.
Friday – 25 Sep 2026 – 9:30am
This is a quick update about rain totals for the month, river flows, and drought conditions.
CoCoRaHS rain totals across Archuleta County have ranged from 2.78″ to 5.83″. The average for September is 2.00″.
CoCoRaHS rain totals across La Plata County were consistently higher ranging from 2.76″ to 5.80″.
San Juan River flow in Pagosa Springs was just 17cfs on 13 Sep and then spiked at 679cfs on 17 Sep and is headed up for another spike today.
Piedra River flow near Arboles was just 10cfs on 12 Sep and then spiked at nearly 1,000cfs on 18 Sep. It’s headed up for another spike today.
On the top is the drought map from 1 Sep and the bottom is from 22 Sep.
Archuleta County started the month with “severe” drought over the east 3/4 and “extreme” drought over the west 1/4. This week much of Archuleta County was still considered “severe” drought, but there was significant improvement across the west part of the county. Automated weather sensors in the Arboles area indicate that 4.50″ to nearly 7″ of rain has fallen this month!
Note about drought… Changes are gradual. A wet week or two is rarely enough to eliminate drought. However, I would be surprised if next week’s drought map doesn’t show improvement.
And the rain isn’t over! It looks like the remnants of hurricane Polo will visit us Monday and Tuesday. Another 1.50″ to 2″ of rain is possible before the month ends!
Shawn will do a full forecast post tomorrow.
– Arleen
