It has been a delightful August so far, and the fantastic weather will continue.

What do I consider ‘fantastic’ about this August weather?

First, I appreciate the precipitation that we’ve been seeing nearly every day. Colorado is an arid state that receives the majority of its precipitation as snowfall in the mountains. Summer-time rainfall is a nice bonus that can keep us on track to recording near or above average precipitation during the course of a year.

The map below shows the precipitation (snow + rain) compared to the average across the western US from October 1, 2016, through August 9, 2017. Only a few areas are below average while nearly all areas are above average. All river basins in Colorado are at or above average. Good news!

Looking ahead, there will be moisture hanging around Colorado for the better part of the next 7-10 days, so expect the afternoon storms to continue for many areas.

Second, I appreciate temperatures that are near or below average. In the winter, this is good for snow quality. In the summer, cooler temperatures are simply more comfortable and mean that I don’t hear many people complaining about the heat:-)

In the front range around Boulder, during July, 20 of 31 days had high temperatures above average. So far during early August, 7 of 8 days had high temperatures below average. The numbers for Eagle airport, west of Vail and north of Aspen and a decent approximation of some mountain areas, are about the same as for Boulder. How delightful!

Looking ahead for temperatures, the 6-10 day outlook shows cooler-than-average weather for most of the country, including Colorado. We might warm up toward the end of next week (August 17-18, ish), but overall I don’t see any scorching heat waves in our future for the next 2 weeks, and if we’re lucky, the heat is over for the year.

Thanks for checking in and I’ll be back in a few days with another update.

JOEL GRATZ