What's with the weather??

[politicat]

I've lived in Colorado now for fifteen years... and I've never seen thunderstorms this frequent and intense. We're getting an inch or more of rain each time it storms (I don't care what DIA's getting; I have a rain gauge).

And yet... the only commentary I've seen is more rain today. Nobody's talking about the fact that this seems strange.

[eleny]

1. Hi politicat!

I've lived here since 1976 and have never seen a Spring & Summer like this. Hubby has been here since '71 and says the same.

We worked out in the yard today battling a run amok trumpet vine. Luckily we got a couple of contractor bags filled before the clouds rolled in.

[politicat]

6. Hi, Eleny!! That's what everybody's been telling me.

I've asked a number of "have lived here longer than me" types at UCBoulder, and in the meteorology department. But nobody's talking about WHY -- El Nino? La Nina? Has Gaia finally decided to drive us out?

I didn't even get the garden in this year... Too wet and time got away from me. And I lost two rose bushes in the deep freeze. At least clover we planted is out-battling the bindweed that blows in from the vacant lots. But this has been a strange weather year.

Climate change indeed...

[hlthe2b]

2. Yes... Barometric Pressure is my own key migraine inducer...

So, I can assure you I've not experienced a spring/summer this active in years.... I can remember other years getting tons of spring rain--so much it felt like the English Moors, but I can not remember so damn much thunder. Given I also have an inconsolable doggie girl when it comes to thunder and lightening, I am left trying to comfort a 75 pound shaking dog, salivating and with eyes totally dilated every afternoon and many wee hours of the morning since June 1....It is heart-breaking and frustrating...

I'm over it, that's for sure...

[politicat]

5. Oh, I feel for you!

A couple years ago, I had the flu, with inner ear complications. Now, when the pressure is wonky, I have my own personal tornado detector -- I get an ear ache.

Have you talked to your vet about Xanax? It does help the poor babies.

One of my first springs here (I was in Colorado Springs at the time) I remember a lot of rain -- that's when Fountain Creek flooded and took half of Manitou Springs down the Arkansas -- but that was rain, not thunderstorms.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm glad for all the rain, we need to fill the reservoirs -- but this is so strange...

[hlthe2b]

10. I used to sedate her when she was younger...

The frequency needed and her advancing age makes it too dangerous...Never really helped her much any way.

It is probably me, who needs the sedation...LOL

[madamesilverspurs]

3. Born here waaaaaaaay back in 1948.

I remember some heavy rain "events", but I don't recall offhand a continuous period like this. I also remember winters much colder and snowier than we have now; we used to make tunnels under the snow, and one year we turned our back yard into a skating rink that lasted from October to March. Anyway, my family in the Seattle area says they've been having our weather since we've insisted on having theirs. So, yes, it has been noted!

[politicat]

8. Yes, the winters have been too warm...

Thanks for the confirmation. The closest I recall is about 15 years ago when we got the month of spring rain, but that was rain, not t-storms, and it cleared out in about a month, not pushing two.

[eleny]

9. a friend born in the '30s used to ice skate on the lake in Denver's City Park

That was in the winters when she was a teen. Now, I don't think the lake ever ices all the way over or if it does it's a thin layer.

[Joe the Liberal]

4. I hope these storms keep up.....

I hate hot weather x(

and I love the rain :P

[politicat]

7. I like it... it's just odd.

And it makes me worry what next year's fire season will be like. We've got lots of dead trees up in the high country and rain like this encourages scrub... and the Forestry Service doesn't take care of the forests, they don't clean up the junk trees and they don't let the fires burn it off. I fear we're setting ourselves up for another bad fire year.

[CrispyQ]

11. This is more how I remember it from when I was a kid up into my 20's.

It would cloud up & rain in the late afternoon or early evening, creating this cycle of moisture being pulled into the sky & then falling again the next day. It never got too hot. I love it! The intense +90° every day is more than I can deal with. My little house doesn't have air & I've seen it 92° at 10pm at night on really hot summer days. ~Whew! I have to wet-head my pup & put the fan on him to get him to sleep on those nights.

The strangest thing I've seen is blooming lilacs last September/October. In all my years in CO, I have never seen lilacs in bloom in the fall.

[madamesilverspurs]

12. I don't do heat well.

But I've never had AC. A couple years back I stumbled across a neat trick: Freeze water in a half-gallon plastic milk jug or a 2-liter pop bottle. Place the frozen container in a dishpan that is about half full of water. Position a portable fan to blow across the frozen container.

I tried this and it worked to drop the temp quite appreciably for the room; but I learned that the dishpan will sweat so I put it on a surface that won't be damaged by water. I also found that an oscillating fan worked best.

[CanonRay]

13. Are we finally ending the 10 year drought?

[backscatter712]

14. We got wicked thunderstorms the other day.

The lightning caused the power to go out at my apartment building, and when I was looking outside, you could see the clouds lighting up and flashing almost continuously. Some pretty good thunder too.

[Christopher Graves]

15. Why take a chance?

I have lived in Colorado for 50 years. There has never been this much rain in the summer in the Denver area. The intensity of these storms are also unusual. Most people relate to these events with a personal context as can be seen by the many replies in this thread. I guess I will do the same. Forty-five years ago ice skating on the North Lake in Washington Park came to an end after being a consistent event for decades. Though there have been a few years in which there were heavy enough freezes, this has not been consistent enough to allow the boat house to reopen and the sawdust to be thrown on the floor so neighbors could strap on their skates on the long parks department green wood benches before heading out over the concrete to the lake. Climate change can be very subtle. We humans are generally too absorbed by our daily lives to notice the many slow and subtle changes in the world around us. We must depend upon the scientists and act on their warnings. In Jamaica fishermen catch fewer and smaller fish than they did in the past but the change has been so slow that they were unaware of their loss. It took scholars going back and checking records kept in the 1930s to point out just how much the catch had been diminished. This type of weather may well be a part of the normal cycle but I would bet that it is on the extreme edge of what we should be having. Will it be a hallmark change like the end of ice skating in Washington Park? I guess we will have to wait and see. But why is anyone willing to take a chance on this?