Record highs possible Thursday
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Tuesday morning’s weatherblog was dead wrong in predicting temperatures for the day, and unlike some of the big metro TV station forecasters, we’re not too proud to admit it.
While we were talking about highs in the low 60s, a rapidly building ridge of high pressure over the desert southwest helped drive readings all the way into the mid-70s. As late as 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Frisco was still sitting at 70 degrees, and if it felt even warmer, it was because light winds and dry air made the sun’s heat intense. The heat index at 7 p.m. Tuesday was all the way up at 76 degrees!
Look for more of the same the next few days, as high pressure remains over the area through late Friday. Highs should climb well into the 70s — and maybe higher, with lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s, depending on your exact location. Weather Underground is only calling for a high of 65 in Friso, but we’ll go with the Weather.com forecast and say that the thermometer will reach the mid-70s once again. By Thursday, we could be flirting with the record high for the date, 82 degrees, set in 1926.
The winds that picked up Tuesday afternoon weren’t driven by any large-scale weather features; rather, they were localized mountain winds, and they’ll likely be back again Wednesday afternoon for a few hours, perfect for sailing and kite-flying, but don’t forget your sunscreen.
By late Friday, an incoming Pacific system is forecast to push the high pressure ridge eastward, once again opening the door for some monsoon moisture to work up along the West Slope and into the high country, bringing a chance of showers for the weekend. In fact, the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service is predicting a chance of heavy rains Saturday through Monday as disturbances rotating counter-clockwise around the trough will interact with the moisture to boost thunderstorm formation. But that’s all still a few days away, so enjoy the warm, sunny weather for now.
And we hate to be the ones to break the news, but the days have become considerable shorter in the past few weeks. As the autumnal equinox approaches, the amount of daylight decreases by more than two minutes each day. Tomorrow’s daylight hours will shrink by two minutes and 26 seconds, to be exact.
Colorado’s birds have noticed the impending seasonal change, as some species, including bug-eating swallos have started migrating southward. In response to a reader question, we checked into this and learned that some Colorado cliff swallows gradually migrate all the way to southern South America.
Finally, check out this amazing video of a fire tornado in Brazil, courtesy of The Weather Channel.
Summit County Citizens Voice 