Between the extreme heat, thick smoke and new wildfire ignitions, this week has been quite the disaster in the Front Range! Our fuels have been primed for weeks now and our team has been vocal regarding this inevitable outcome, but things unravelled much quicker than even we expected this week with something like ten wildland fires in the Front Range just since Monday, in total burning more than 9,000 acres of forest! The weekend unfortunately won’t offer much reprieve from the heat, fire or drought, but we are tracking a potential shift next week towards wetter and cooler conditions. We provide an update on the local fires, the ongoing heatwave, the widespread smoke, and when actual raindrops may return to the forecast.
Category: Climatology (Page 6 of 51)
These posts contain information about the long-term weather patterns of Boulder County. Potential topics may include 30-day weather outlooks, El Nino/La Nina, and seasonal forecasts. You will find less about the day-to-day weather, with more focus on longer trends and patterns.
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Fortunately, as of last Friday afternoon, the wildfire smoke from Canada has cleared out of our area. However, this week will feature new weather challenges in Colorado, with the primary story being a brutally hot, dry and extended heatwave, with a secondary concern being the return of thicker smoke later in the week. Let’s take a look!
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After days of scorching heat, this week will fortunately trend cooler and wetter with the return of monsoon moisture to Colorado — perfect timing considering severe drought has now returned to the area and fire danger continues to explode. Following one more toasty outing on Monday, temperatures will tumble below normal by midweek with daily chances for monsoon thunderstorms, some of which could be severe. We review the ongoing heatwave, the recent Dinosaur Fire in Boulder, why the pattern is now shifting and look ahead to which days will offer the best chance of rain this week.
An impending pattern shift is expected to bring record-breaking triple-digit temperatures to the Front Range this weekend. This latest round of extreme heat is due to a superheated airmass moving into Colorado from the Desert, an airmass which has already produced all-time record highs in other western states. We review the climatology for rare triple digit heat, discuss why Denver is often several degrees warmer than Boulder during the summer, go over the forecast for just how hot it will get this weekend and look ahead to when we may finally cool off.
The North American Monsoon is responsible for pumping subtropical moisture into the southwestern United States every summer, moisture which ultimately supplies the fuel for Colorado’s daily summertime thunderstorms — rain we desperately need in the Front Range right now following months scarce precipitation and worsening drought. However, the arrival and intensity of the summer monsoon varies substantially from year to year, especially in our area. In this long-range outlook, we discuss the developing dire drought situation, the current state of the monsoon, what’s happening with El Niño, and what to expect for weather in the coming months across Front Range Colorado.
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