Strong ridging has established itself across much of the United States. Clear skies and an airmass almost 20 degrees warmer than average helped Denver beat its oldest standing high temperature record (98 degrees in 1876) by two degrees, notching the fifth day of triple digit temperatures for the year, which is quite uncommon.

July is rapidly coming to a close, and it has been a decent month for Colorado, especially after June brought a spell of record heat and widespread wildfires. Though we were quite cynical about how this month would shape up, the monsoon has thus far driven a favorable atmospheric setup for precipitation in the desert southwest, with big totals in Arizona, western New Mexico, and southwest Colorado.

We’re looking at an unsettled afternoon and weekend as monsoonal moisture remains in place over the state and a weak retrograding low continues to provide a source of lift and cooler temperatures for the desert southwest.

The wildflowers are popping, and bees are buzzing, and it looks like much of the southwest will receive an ample amount of moisture over the next week. Not bad!

Both the American and Euro ensembles show above average precipitation over the next 10 days:

A surge of monsoonal moisture and some dynamical forcing from a shortwave has made today wet and stormy across most of Colorado, starting with the San Juans early this morning. Radar over the past 12 hours show widespread precipitation across the state, which is now starting to step off the high terrain and onto the plains:

The past few days have been dry and increasingly smoky as the heat returns following our cold front on Saturday. This front actually moved through Friday night (a bit faster than expected) which helped suppress storm activity on Saturday, which was already expected to be limited.

Over the past three days, we’ve only seen sporadic precipitation, not counting a few small cells that have popped up over the Divide since noon and are tracking south.

Hello everyone, long time no see! Hope your summer is going well.

In our last article (two weeks ago), we defined what the North American Monsoon is, its various permutations, and what sort of pattern may be in store for us this summer. We actually saw a transition towards monsoonal flow a week ago as a broad region of high pressure began to develop over the Four Corners region. This initially resulted in a surge of monsoonal moisture, but now the high pressure system is starting to make precipitation more scarce as it moves west and strengthens.

In this article, we define the North American Monsoon, describe its formation, dispel several myths around it, and look at some of its common weather patterns using several different years as examples. We’ll also discuss its potential future in the face of climate change.

As we get into summer, you’ll hear the term monsoon used ever more frequently, especially during stretches of wetter weather. Parts of Colorado (not the entire state) often experience a secondary wet season beginning in mid-July that corresponds with the formation of the North American Monsoon.