{"id":32442,"date":"2023-08-07T23:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T05:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/has-southwest-colorado-missed-out-on-the-monsoons\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:57:46","slug":"has-southwest-colorado-missed-out-on-the-monsoons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/has-southwest-colorado-missed-out-on-the-monsoons\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Southwest Colorado missed out on the monsoons?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Irrigation
Irrigation runs on a hay field Thursday southeast of Durango. Weather forecasters say a storm could bring up to an inch of rain Friday through Sunday to some parts of Southwest Colorado. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Monsoons that normally offer a reprieve from the summer heat July and August in Southwest Colorado have by and large been a no-show this year.<\/p>\n

A high-pressure system that has settled over parts of the Southwest has blocked moisture from reaching this corner of the state, said Tom Renwick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.<\/p>\n

The monsoons typically begin in July and extend through August. They tend to bring a steady pattern of afternoon showers, especially in the higher elevations of the San Juan Mountains. While the rainy season has largely been nonexistent this summer, forecasters are reluctant to say the monsoons are a total bust.<\/p>\n

Renwick told The Durango Herald<\/em> this past spring has had an abundance of moisture, and said it is possible a late showing of monsoonal rains could still materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe in September things will start picking up,\u201d he said, speaking hypothetically. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s always that chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NWS Climate Prediction Center is calling for above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation August through October in the Four Corners.<\/p>\n

\"The
The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center is calling for above-average temperatures for the Four Corners from August through October.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center is calling for below-average precipitation for the Four Corners from August through October.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Despite the lack of monsoons, the area is doing fairly well for moisture so far this year, Renwick said, thanks in part to above-average rainfall this spring.<\/p>\n

As of this week, the Durango area had received 6.78 inches of precipitation, which is only 0.26 inches below average, he said.<\/p>\n

At this time last year, the area had received 5.72 inches of precipitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the grand scheme of things, we\u2019re pretty much where we should be,\u201d Renwick said.<\/p>\n

The Cortez area has received 8.29 inches of precipitation so far this year, which is 2.14 inches more than the area\u2019s 6.15 inches for this time of year, he said. At this time last year, Cortez had received only 3.76 inches of precipitation for the year.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Drought Monitor had all of Southwest Colorado in \u201cabnormally dry\u201d to \u201cmoderate drought\u201d conditions as of Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Southwest
Southwest Colorado was listed as \u201cabnormally dry\u201d to \u201cmoderate drought\u201d as of Thursday, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

While a typical monsoon pattern doesn\u2019t appear to be setting up yet, the high-pressure system may weaken and allow some moisture to arrive later this week, Renwick said.<\/p>\n

He said moisture will arrive Thursday and stick around through the weekend. He cautioned that moisture in the air doesn\u2019t mean a deluge of rain, but there is at least a chance for showers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line is, chances increase for isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms,\u201d he said, but added it could be dry again next week.<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long-term forecasts calls for above-average temps, lower precipitation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1623,414,88],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-rain","tag-weather","tag-weather-news"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81796,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32442\/revisions\/81796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32442"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}