Well hello there.
We had a pretty crazy weekend. Saturday was the day before a very potent cold front moved through. The clash of airmasses led to several tornado/landspout reports. We had had 30 reports of large and damaging hail. There was damaging hail in the South Metro area! and we had a few strong wind reports.
Then the cold air rushed in. And it was cold! So chilly that the park day I had planned on attending was canceled. That’s okay but phew, what a difference a day makes. Sunday was a particularly chilly day. We only got to 63° at the airport and only about 61° downtown. That’s a good 17-20° colder than what we typically expect on this date. It was also one of Denver’s coldest high temperatures in the month of June.
Today is June 10th and it is also the average date of our first 90° temp! This should prove that yesterday’s high was pretty abnormal. But we are rebounding!
The rest of this afternoon will be pretty. There’s been plenty of sunshine all day and that won’t change much. Highs are closer to normal.
Summary:
Tuesday: Dry and very nice out. A repeat of Monday.
Wednesday-Thursday: More scattered afternoon clouds return. Temps creep up.
Friday through the weekend: Rain chances go up. Not significant but more typical of the afternoon pattern we’ve been in.
Deets:
Across the board, the general mumbling I have heard from friends is that it’s been so stormy and rainy and cool here! It’s true, it has been. And of course, there’s a meteorological reason behind it. Unfortunately for my friends trying to make small weather talk with me – they got an earful on why it is the way it is.
Much like the Plains and Midwest who have been battered by storms and flooding, Colorado has been consistently producing storms that either had snow or severe weather in them. This is thanks to the overall pattern of El Nino keeping a weak but solid moisture flow over the western US. On top of this, the year monsoonal pattern is kicking into gear. Typically, Monsoon season runs from mid-June to the end of September. This is a seasonal wind shift that brings more moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California to the inter-mountain west.
So, going forward, what do we expect? Tuesday night, we”’ have a weak cool front move through. This won’t really affect our temps but it will keep them steadily below average for Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday will feature mostly sunshine but thanks to a weak disturbance rolling through we may have an isolated shower form.
For Thursday – the weekend, we’ll shift to more zonal flow aloft but that zonal flow will bring in a disturbance or two and with temps rising and moisture increasing, we’ll see an increase in showers chances. Rain chances look best for Thursday and drop slightly for Friday and Saturday.
Temperatures stay relatively consistent throughout the weekend. Close enough to average to not mention any outliers.
What is worth mentioning is the flooding that may be an ongoing threat in the mountains. Some flash flood watches are already out with regard to the snowmelt that is taking place. Again, just something to keep in mind as you make your summer plans in the coming weeks.
That’s all for now.
~Rain or shine
I’m Andy Stein
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