As the sun rose over the Colorado Plains this morning, the last clouds of yesterday's storm system stretched across the eastern horizon and clear skies extended westward to the Front Range. Downsloping, westerly chinooks were warming the urban corridor and, by mid morning, the temperature was approaching 50 F.
Along the South Platte, the hysterical call of flickers rang through the valley and the chorus of red-winged blackbirds was reaching a fevered pitch. Since the ponds and lakes of the Front Range have begun to thaw, the concentration of river waterfowl has diminished though a good variety, including a pair of hooded mergansers, still graced the scene. The flickers drummed away on dead limbs, magpies gathered sticks for their bulky nests and a pair of red-tailed hawks cavorted overhead. Spring has certainly arrived along the Front Range!
But, as locals know, the season of snow has not ended. March is the snowiest month in Denver (followed by April and November), thanks to Pacific storms that move east along the Colorado-New Mexico line and produce upslope snow storms. In fact, our sunny, warm day has already given way to increasing clouds and a northeast wind; the snow is due tonight. As the jet stream moves northward, later in the spring, this fickle weather pattern will yield to the thunderstorm season of May and June.
