The local precipitation totals for 2015 are above normal thanks to steady rain, especially in May.
Local meteorologist Jim Andrus reported that so far this year, southwest Colorado has received 6.52 inches of rain, with 2.41 inches falling this month alone.
"That puts us at 141 percent of normal for the year," he said.
In May 2.41 inches have fallen so far, he said, and the 30-year average is .83 inches.
"May has been extraordinary, and is almost three times the norm for precipitation," Andrus said. "It is the wettest May since at least 1998 when I began keeping records."
The moisture has produced significant snow above 10,000 feet in the La Plata and San Juan Mountains. The additional moisture has bumped up low snowpack levels in the region as well.
According to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, combined snowpack levels for the Dolores, Animas, San Miguel, and San Juan river basins is at 86 percent of normal, up from 61 percent of normal in February.
The recent rainy trend is due to a low-pressure ridge that guided in moisture from the Pacific, Andrus said.
"It replaced a high-pressure ridge that we had all winter, blocking the storms and giving us a dry winter," he said.
The local forecast shows sunny weather for the next six days as a high-pressure ridge begins to form, pushing storms to the north.
