Waiting for the snow to melt…
Heating Degree Days as a percent above or below April 1982 •••••••••••••• 82 1. May 1983 precipitation amounts The calendar said it was May but cold weather with snow continued in the mountains and across portions of eastern Colorado.Storms in mid May added to the mountain snowpack and spread rain across the lower elevations and several inches of heavy wet snow along the eastern foothills.A surprise late season blizzard on May 17 knocked out power in several Front Range communities when 70 mph winds accompanied heavy wet snow.At last, warm weather arrived near the end of May.Temperatures soared into the 80s and rivers instantly responded by rapidly rising to near flood stage.Despite this melting, measurements taken at the end of the month showed many areas in the Colorado high country had actually experienced an increase in snowpack through the month.This set the stage for the widespread flooding which occurred in June.June is normally the driest month of the year for the mountains, but in keeping with the unusual nature of this year, rains and even some high elevation snows continued to pour down and temperatures lagged below average.A true summer heatwave later in the month, followed by one more round of widespread moderate to heavy rainfall, sent rivers out of their banks in many parts of the state.June streamflows were the greatest on record at several locations both east and west of the Continental Divide.Severe thunderstorms also left their mark on Colorado in June.Greeley was clobbered by a terrible hailstorm which caused nearly 30 million dollars damage to the corrrnunity on June 4.July brought with it a return to more normal conditions, although rivers continued to flow at much higher than average rates.Precipitation was extremely variable.A few areas of western Colorado had their wettest July on record while southeastern Colorado was very Date 25-27 28-30 31 13 Event Warm weather continued as major Pacific storm system moved into the Rockies.Plains remained dry but mountains and western valleys received significant precipitation.One to two inches of rainfall common in areas of west central Colorado.Uravan 1.30 11 , Paonia 1.48 11 , Redstone 2.02 11 • Wolf Creek Pass picked up a quick 2.50 11 of precipitation including 13 inches of snow.Cold nighttime temperatures occurred after the storm including a 7° reading at Dillon, -2° at Taylor Park Dam, and -8° at Platoro Dam on the morning of the 29th, the coldest in the state.Some lingering mountain snowshowers.Warmer with precipitation spreading into the state again as an upper air disturbance approached the state. Precipitation SummaryPrecipitation totals and percents of average for October are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Most areas east of the Continental Divide, the San Juan Mountains and the upper Gunnison and upper Colorado river basins were drier than average.Saguache, in the San Luis Valley, received just a trace of precipitation in October.Some exceptions to this dry pattern were noted, however.Monthly totals were substantially above average along the base of the foothills south from Boulder to the Palmer Ridge as a result of the October 8th storm.Heavy precipitation amounts were also noted in extreme southeast Colorado.Stonington's 4.19 inch total was 582 percent of average.Above average precipitation occurred over most of central and northwestern Colorado.Totals from Delta northward to Craig were generally about 40 percent above average.Wolf Creek Pass's 4.70 inch total for the month was the greatest in the state followed by 3.72 inches at Marvine Ranch (east of Meeker). Temperature SummaryThe entire state was cooler than average (Figure 3) in October.Most stations east of the Divide ended up about 2 degrees Fahrenheit below average.Even cooler conditions were observed west of the Divide where most locations averaged 3 to 5 degrees colder than usual.The Central Mountain area was particularly chilly.Leadville, Climax, 0
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