May finally offered some relief from the area’s drought, delivering 3.52 inches of rain and snow, 0.60 inches more than normal.  Until that we had experienced 10 of 12 months of below-normal precipitation.  What made it worse was heat!  Between October and April, monthly mean temperatures ranged up to 12 degrees above normal.  During the same period, we were short more than 5 inches of moisture.  As result, pastures dried up.  Several of our cool-season plantings failed, mainly due to extreme temperature swings but made worse by the dry conditions and difficulty delivering adequate irrigation.  Three attempts to plant peas yielded 5% germination, spinach failed first and second seedings, and beets failed the first attempt and only 20% germinated the second.  Pastures usually start greening up in March and certainly April, but they were dry and brown in April.  Elk and deer desperate for forage visited often.
May’s snow and rain transformed the landscape.  The timing of the precipitation was perfectly in line with emerging grasses.  We had seeded 8 acres of native grasses last Spring.  Much germinated but then went dormant in the dry summer and fall.  Some individual blades of grass sometimes braved our dry Spring, but by the end of May much of the seeded area looked very happy.  Success also depended on soil type, but absolutely required the water.
Some invasive forbs and grasses, which emerged early because of the warm temperatures into a punishing dry spell, failed, and did not recover after May’s moisture.  Large areas of cheatgrass and pale alyssum emerged but then turned to dust.  The bindweed was (unfortunately) unaffected.
Have we returned to normal?  Not quite.  The last significant precipitation we reported fell on May 20. Most soils are dry.  Exurban water provider Left Hand Water District has declared a Stage 1 (mild) water shortage.  Right now I’d classify conditions as “mildly dry” as result.  Things can change quickly!
Photos:  May 24th view of the north pasture with older and newly seeded (2025) grasses.  Views near the rain gauge looking SW, on April 29 (dry) and June 1 (moist and green).
I used the closest climgrid 30-year precipitation normals, and temperatures from Longmont 2 ESE.  I have only been reporting daily precipitation since mid-May, but I’ve been observing and recording it since May 2025.