Colorado's warm, dry spell

At least 2 record highs today in Colorado. Colorado Springs tied it's 1901 record of 72, and Pueblo put a new page in the record books with an 80 degree reading (78 was the old record, set in 1904).

When I'm out and about, I've been getting the question "is this REALLY unusual?", and "is this proof of global warming?"

Let's deal with those one at a time...The answer to the second one is NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Now then, back to the first one. We can go through wide swings of weather this time of the year, as we begin to transition from cold, wintry weather from the north and more springlike conditions, usually caused by high pressure to our southwest driving warm, dry winds down the eastern slopes of the Rockies...and that's the case at the moment. (See "Chinook Winds" in the previous blog entry).

We've had a persistent weather pattern that has favored these warm, dry winds blowing, but the pattern can change just as quickly to one where we get storm after storm and wonder where the snowplows are.

Southern Colorado's long-term weather records show that we've done this before (weather tends to run in cycles), and we'll certainly do it again, with some cooler, wetter periods in-between.

In the meantime, enjoy the warm and wait for the storms (and remember that snowpack in the mountains is either right where we expect it to be, or perhaps even a little bit above that level).