Ah, The Warmth Of The Sun!

DENVER -- It's been a soggy week, but better weather is coming, just in time for the weekend. A strong ridge of high pressure is building to our west, and our forecast models are indicating that temperatures will be much closer to seasonal averages today. For this afternoon, we are forecasting highs in the upper 60s. A deck of mid-level clouds is over the area right now and a few showers were reported this morning. Through the afternoon, our skies will clear a bit with a just a slight chance of isolated showers, mainly in the mountains.

For the weekend, it'll be just about perfect for a barbecue or a bike ride. We're giving the official "green light" for planting your flowers and veggies this weekend! Temperatures on Saturday and Sunday will warm into the 80s, giving us a taste of Summer. The average high this time of year is around 70 degrees.

It may have seemed like a very wet week, but northeast Colorado really needs the moisture. This week's rain and snow made up for part of the deficit. Officially, Denver has received 1.27 inches of liquid precipitation, (rain and melted snow) since May 1, and some foothill locations got a good amount of snow from Monday's storm. Denver is now just above average for precipitation for the month of May, however we're down 3.30 from the yearly average. Our usual heavy March snowfalls didn't happen this year, so anything we get in the way of rainfall should be welcomed with open arms. Things are still dry around eastern Colorado, and we may need to modify Mike Nelson's "Tornado Dance" into a rainfall dance of some sort pretty soon.

While many mountain locations have hit near-record snowfall amounts this Winter, the eastern plains are hurting for moisture. The plains farmers and ranchers depend on good rainfall for crops and grazing. The mountain snow doesn't help much, because all the water is up there, and only gets to the plains in the big rivers like the Platte and the Arkansas. Also, when the ground is dry, it starts what we call in meteorology a "feedback loop". Simply put, thunderstorms that form over the mountains where the moisture is, move out onto the plains where it's dry. The storms don't have much surface moisture to feed on because it's so dry near the surface, so they dissipate faster and don't provide as much rainfall for those who depend on it. Fortunately, the latest forecasts from the Climate Prediction folks are calling for above-average precipitation for eastern Colorado for the next 8 to 14 days. Let's hope so!

Check back right here at www.thedenverchannel.com for updates from the 24/7 Weather Center on our ever-changing Springtime Colorado weather.