See original article in the Denver Post
Yes, you read that headline correctly. Since March 1, Denver has been wetter than Miami and cloudier than the Pacific Northwest.
In what is the wettest start to a year since 1983, Denver residents are finding themselves realizing that we are not going to have 300 days of sunshine this year as the city boasts.
The beginning of the year started off rather dry, but thanks to the big March blizzard, we saw a huge surplus of moisture and, after that, the snow and rain continued to bring the Mile High City and surrounding areas beneficial moisture through April and May.
You may have noticed your serotonin levels down recently, or just a general difference in attitude — that’s probably due to the amount of cloudiness we’ve had as of late.
Sunny, partly cloudy and cloudy days are all tracked within the climate data for the month at any given location in the U.S. Since March 1, Denver has experienced more partly cloudy and cloudy days than Seattle and Portland, Oregon — which are notoriously known for their wet and damp weather.
Partly cloudy or cloudy days since March 1:
Denver: 65
Seattle: 63
Portland: 57
Places like Miami are heading into their wet season right now so another impressive stat to take to the water cooler with you (if you’re back in the office, of course) is that we’ve had more rain than the south Florida city since the beginning of March and notably more rain than the Pacific Northwest cities.
Rain totals since March 1:
Denver: 7.5 inches
Miami: 7.32 inches
Seattle: 4.19 inches
Portland: 2.8 inches
Since Jan. 1, Denver has received 8.44 inches of precipitation (rain and melted snow). For comparison, through the entire year that was 2020, Denver picked up 8.74 inches of precipitation. Additionally, we’ve already seen 60% of the amount of rain we typically see in a year, leaving us in a good spot as we head into the hotter and drier months.
Drought conditions have greatly improved since the beginning of this year, thanks to all of this moisture, so there are some great benefits of having wet weather like this. At the beginning of the year, 100% of Colorado was under moderate drought and now just over half of the state is experiencing moderate drought conditions. The Western Slope is still struggling with extreme and exceptional drought conditions.
The forecast ahead looks like it will be way more typical of springtime in northeast Colorado with small chances of afternoon storms and highs just a few degrees above average. Long-range forecasts are still showing that drier and warmer weather is expected for the upcoming summer months.
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