John McGinley, Peak to Peak. September 2019: Persistent westerly and southwesterly flow brought warmer and drier than normal air into Colorado through the month. It was so warm the month ended up ranked third in the climate record going back to 1965. Only 2010 and 2015 were warmer. Rainfall was pitiful with only a little over half of normal precipitation. This was the third straight month warmer and drier than normal. 

Precipitation: Total was 0.98 inches, well below the average of 1.76 inches. Most of the rain occurred in a one-week period from the 5th to the 11th. We had only two days with moderate rain, 0.34 inches on the 5th and 0.35 inches on the 27th.

Temperature: Average high was 71.4F with an average low of 52.4F. These combined to make the month a whopping 6.7 degrees above normal.  Warmest day was 86F on the 2nd, coldest high was 58F on the 30th. Coldest low was 33F on the 22nd. As indicated above this was the third warmest September in the 53-year climate record. 

Winds:  Only two days with winds 40+ mph (this is normal).

Other Features: The storm track stayed north and the monsoonal flow stayed south.

Outlook for October:  Normally we will see highs of 54F and lows of 29F. We have seven windy days. Precipitation totals 1.26 inches with 11 inches of snow. The long range weather models are indicating a cool first week with a few cold fronts, but minimal precipitation. Week two will be warmer with storms moving in mid month. The remainder of the month looks drier and warmer than normal.

(Originally published in the October 3, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)