The scorcher that (mercifully) wasn’t

A nice review of how this past summer in Denver was unexpectedly cool and wet.

Rain totals since June 1 are 2.2 inches higher than normal. There hasn’t been a 100-degree day in Denver this summer. In fact, it not only rained on the first day of summer, but the high of 56 on June 21 broke a record for cold that had stood since 1947.
And fires? Let Larry Helmerick, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, douse those concerns. “We just sent two Hot Shot crews to Alaska to help out with the fires up there,” he said. “We thought we’d have a lot of crews working fires here, but that hasn’t turned out to be the case.”

The mild summer has adversely affected river rafting companies, but everyone else seems pretty pleased. Next up …

So, summer has 21 days left, and there is little indication the weather pattern is going to change into a blazing furnace, Doesken said. He also said a cooler summer doesn’t necessarily translate into a harsher winter. In fact, the models show very little relationship between the two seasons.
“We’ve done some correlation studies in the past and what summer conditions may tell us about the winter,” he said. “It looks like a shotgun blast – basically anything can happen.”

That would seem to sum up Denver weather in a nutshell.