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Monsoons may be on the way later this month

New La Nina watch indicates upcoming winter could be drier and warmer than average

Jason Auslander
The Aspen Times
A family plays in the water at John Denver Sanctuary to cool down during a hot summer day in Aspen on Friday, July 9.
Photo by Kelsey Brunner / The Aspen Times

ASPEN — While higher than normal temperatures are likely to continue along the Western Slope throughout the summer, monsoonal moisture is predicted toward the end of the month and into August.

That’s according to the latest climate models from National Weather Service forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center in Maryland. The Climate Prediction Center’s website also features long-range forecasts for the fall and winter — it issued a La Nina watch Thursday, July 8 — and if you’re a skier or snowboarder, you’re probably not going to love them.

But getting back to this summer and the prospects for rain and diminished wildfire danger, things are looking up, according to the latest models.



The Climate Prediction Center posts several temperature and precipitation outlooks on the main page of its site, including six to 10 days, eight to 14 days, three to four weeks, one month and three months. A look at the maps for the two nearest outlooks shows the likely continuance of above average temperatures and below average precipitation in Colorado and most of the West.

However, the same maps show below average temperatures and above average precipitation likely to occur in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico and most of Texas, which would indicate possible monsoonal moisture forming, said Norv Larson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction.



Then comes the three to four week forecast, which is valid July 24 to Aug. 6. Temperatures in Western Colorado are predicted to have a 55% chance of being above normal at that time, but the monsoon precipitation bubble — which predicts a 55% chance of above average rainfall — has now expanded to include most of Western Colorado, all of Utah, all of Arizona and a sliver of western New Mexico.

“(The models) would seem to indicate (the possibility) of sub-tropical moisture to come into our area,” Larson said.

The three-month outlook shows temperatures likely to have 50% to 60% chances of being higher than normal, with precipitation back down to 33% to 50% below normal.

And that appears to be the beginning of a possible drying trend that might flow into at least the early part of the 2021-22 winter, according to the long-range forecasts.

The La Nina watch issued Thursday by the Climate Prediction Center indicates the weather phenomenon could potentially emerge “during the September-November season and (last) through the 2021-22 winter (66% chance during November-January).” La Nina is affected by temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and causes the jet stream to push storms to the northern part of the country. El Nino, conversely, causes the jet stream to push storms toward the southern part of the country.

The Climate Prediction Center’s long-range forecasts for the upcoming winter suggest higher than normal temperatures throughout the winter and below normal precipitation for at least the first half of the winter. During the second half of the winter, precipitation is predicted to return to normal levels, according to the forecasts.

Larson emphasized that long-range weather forecasts can and likely will change.

The longest forecast issued by the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction is seven days, he said. And that indicates that moisture is likely to weaken the warm high pressure system next week that hovered over the Western Slope this week, bringing cooler temperatures and the possibility of scattered thunderstorms, Larson said.

Grand Junction, by the way, reached an all-time high of 106 degrees Friday afternoon.


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