Cool air and hazy sunshine enveloped the South Platte Valley this morning. Both were products of an upslope flow, triggered by a center of low pressure as it creeped eastward along the Colorado-New Mexico border; counterclockwise winds around the low swept Gulf moisture toward the Front Range, forcing the air to rise and cooling it to its dew point.
Down at South Platte Park, in Littleton, I took my usual hike around Eaglewatch Lake, including a short walk along the river. Waterfowl species were limited, not yet hinting of the large congregations that will descend on the Park later in the month. Double-crested cormorants were most common, lounging on a log at the south end of the lake or fishing in the calm, blue waters. Ducks were represented by mallards, wood ducks and hooded mergansers; a few pied-billed grebes dove from the surface and a lone horned grebe hunted at the north end of the lake. While a few ring-billed gulls settled on the water, no Canada geese were encountered during my hike, a rare experience during any season and one that will be impossible within a few weeks (their Front Range population triples during the colder months of the year).
The upslope flow intensified throughout the day, culminating in bands of thunderstorms by late afternoon. Given the dry conditions on our Littleton farm, the rain was more than welcome.
