Unusually Cold Temperatures? Blame it on the Jet Stream

Unusually wet, cool weather not related to monsoons.

When it’s past Memorial Day and the high is only in the 70s, locals start to wonder. And discuss. And dissect. Is it climate change?
Chris Cuoco, a senior forecaster in the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service said it’s not a mystery, it’s the jet stream.

“During the transition from winter to summer, the jet stream travels from south of us to north of us, but now it’s right across the middle of the United States and right over us,” he said. “It just has stayed in the transition between seasons with one relatively small storm after another.”

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Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos

Springtime snow fell in the mountains on Coal Bank Pass on U.S. Highway 550 on Wednesday. The San Juan Mountains received a small amount of snow early Wednesday morning, bringing unusually cold temperatures this time of year.

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Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos

Springtime snow fell in the mountains on Coal Bank Pass on U.S. Highway 550 on Wednesday. The San Juan Mountains received a small amount of snow early Wednesday morning, bringing unusually cold temperatures this time of year.

Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos

Jennie Sinclair, a wildlife biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, stands at the top of a snowy Molas Pass on Wednesday using a hand-held antenna tracking a lynx in a valley below. Lynx fitted with radio collars are tracked by the DOW. At this time of year, some females have established dens and have had, or are preparing to have, kittens. The DOW’s lynx reintroduction program started in 1999 and is ongoing.

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The San Juan Mountains received a small amount of snow Wednesday at higher elevations. Cuoco said some of the white stuff may have been hail. The only snow report the weather service office had received was that Ophir, south of Telluride, had received 1 inch of heavy snow.

Some people like the cooler June and others want it to warm up. Cuoco has a personal reason to want higher temperatures.

“I don’t like it because my garden’s not growing,” he said. “My tomato plants are usually 3 feet tall by now, but they’re only a foot and a half or 2 feet high this year.”

The weather has brought one significant advantage to Southwest Colorado, particularly in a year when the snowpack  is a fraction of its average depth.

“It’s usually hottest and very dry now, and we end up with wildfire problems,” he said. “That’s another reason it’s nice.”

Some locals are worried that all this rain in June may diminish the normal monsoon period in July and August. When asked if there’s any truth to the saying “Rains in June, no monsoon,” Cuoco laughed.

“You can add that one to the ‘Junesoons’ that is being bantered about,” he said. “This has nothing to do with the monsoons.”

In the meantime, other parts of Colorado are experiencing strong weather patterns.

Severe weather continues in northern Colorado.

The National Weather Service said another funnel cloud was spotted at 6:19 p.m. Wednesday near the Natural Fort rest area, about 23 miles north of Fort Collins. A tornado warning was in effect for northeastern Larimer County and northwestern Weld County on Wednesday night.

Earlier Wednesday, funnel clouds were spotted near New Raymer and near Windsor as severe thunderstorms moved through the area.

There were no immediate reports of any damage.

Southeastern Colorado was hit by slow-moving thunderstorms, but a flood advisory has now been lifted.

abutler@durangoherald.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story.