A trademark sign of the monsoon season, numerous showers and thunderstorms have been producing beneficial rains across parts of Colorado each afternoon this week. However, the winds in the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere have not been favorable for producing rain in Nederland and many of the nearby foothills communities.
Moisture will continue to stream from southwest to northeast across our state on Friday bringing the best chance for rain so far this week to Nederland and the Foothills east of the Continental Divide. It appears that the winds will be more favorable for heavy rain producing thunderstorms, especially later in the day. Nederland needs the rain. So far, we’ve only had 0.53 inches of rain for the month of July here at our location 4 miles to the east of town. Our normal for the month of July over the past 8 years has been nearly 4.5 inches of rain for the month. This lack of rain combined with warm temperatures has exasperated fire danger, and we have a long way to go until more widespread rain and snow returns in Autumn. This is just a reminder that we live in an arid state. Often it is feast or famine when it comes to precipitation in the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains.
Starting this weekend, the moisture will begin to push south of our region as the summer ridge of high pressure breaks down over the western United States. Temperatures will be pleasant, generally in the low to mid 70s, but warmer weather will return for early next week with chances of rain diminishing.