After ten days in the soggy Midwest, I am back at our Littleton, Colorado, farm, enjoying drier air and warm temperatures. While the greenery here reflects an unusually wet spring, we are not dealing with flooded rivers and muddy landscapes.
On the other hand, late afternoon thunderstorms continue to lash the region, disrupting air traffic and posing the threat of damaging hail. Indeed, as I write this post, a severe thunderstorm over Denver International Airport is slowly drifting eastward, allowing arrivals and departures to resume. Other storms tower east of the Front Range, creating an atmospheric wall that is forcing air traffic to be routed well to the north and south of our region.
But away from these brief and widely scattered downpours, there is no humidity to suppress outdoor activity and sunny skies dominate in most areas. Unlike the Midwest, we are far from the plume of Gulf moisture that storm systems tap as they move across the country; in addition, the mountain ranges to our west "take out" precipitation arriving from the Pacific. Our semiarid climate may come with spring snow, June thunderstorms and a late summer monsoon, but I'll take the dry air, cool nights and abundant sunshine.
On the other hand, late afternoon thunderstorms continue to lash the region, disrupting air traffic and posing the threat of damaging hail. Indeed, as I write this post, a severe thunderstorm over Denver International Airport is slowly drifting eastward, allowing arrivals and departures to resume. Other storms tower east of the Front Range, creating an atmospheric wall that is forcing air traffic to be routed well to the north and south of our region.
But away from these brief and widely scattered downpours, there is no humidity to suppress outdoor activity and sunny skies dominate in most areas. Unlike the Midwest, we are far from the plume of Gulf moisture that storm systems tap as they move across the country; in addition, the mountain ranges to our west "take out" precipitation arriving from the Pacific. Our semiarid climate may come with spring snow, June thunderstorms and a late summer monsoon, but I'll take the dry air, cool nights and abundant sunshine.
