Over the past few days, scattered showers and a few thunderstorms indicated that the high pressure dome, responsible for our persistent hot, dry weather, was beginning to shift eastward Yesterday, a dense swath of clouds formed above the Front Range, shrouding the higher peaks. A glance at the radar revealed an arc of precipitation, from West Texas to the Four Corners region and continuing northeastward to the Front Range.
This pattern is typical of the Southwestern Monsoon, as Gulf of Mexico moisture flows along the outer rim of the high pressure dome; the latter is typically centered over the Southern Plains. Here in Metro Denver, it's welcome, late-day storms generally arrive by late July or August.
By yesterday afternoon, cloud cover had spread across the city and, just before 6 PM, glorious rain drenched our Littleton farm; periods of rainfall are expected to increase through the week as the monsoon intensifies. Nevertheless, summer heat is far from over and our warming climate will have an uncertain impact on this annual weather event.
