“When it rains, it pours” is not just an old adage but a lifestyle in Denver this spring and summer.
It rained more in Denver by July 4 than it normally rains all year, according to the . As of July 5, the city absorbed 15.2 inches of rain, breaking the annual precipitation average of 14.48 inches, said Kari Bowen, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The past couple of months have proven to be the wettest 60-day period on National Weather Service record and Denver’s June falls into hall-of-fame status as the rainiest June in the city in at least the last 150 years.
Typically, average June rainfall tops out at about 1.94 inches, but this June was drenched with 6.10 inches of rain.
The total rain in May and June this year — 11.63 inches of rain — was the rainiest the city has ever been in those two months, going back to the start of the weather service’s record keeping in 1872.
Why have we been getting so much precipitation? Bowen said there are “loose links” between El Niño, climate oscillation and jet streams.
The rest of July is expected to be slightly above average for precipitation as well, Bowen said.
“It does help with any drought that has persisted over the last few years,” she said.
The rainfall helps replenish reservoirs and groundwater, Bowen said, and can act as a buffer for drier months ahead.
“It’s pretty amazing to look at the drought monitor for the state because there’s hardly any drought in the state except for one tiny corner in the southeastern portion which is abnormally dry,” Bowen said. “The kicker is whatap going to happen later on throughout the year. Is this wet pattern going to continue and then all this new growth going to dry out? Will we have a rough fall? We’ll have to see about that.”
