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Hot enough for you?

Mercury pushing higher across the area
A dog looks at all the treats – and hopefully some cool water – that might be coming out of Durango’s Sonic Drive-In on East Eighth Avenue on Monday during the heat of the day. Temperatures were expected to be in the upper 80s to lower 90s this week in Durango.

First June is rainy and cool, and locals are complaining about the weather. Then the temperatures rise, conditions dry out, and people are complaining it’s too hot.

But is it?

“Temperatures are running above-normal across the area,” said meteorologist Megan Stackhouse of the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service. “It’s been really noticeable because of how dry it’s been.”

The average high for Durango on June 29 is 85 degrees, so we were a couple of degrees above average Monday.

Checking to see if we’ve hit any record highs is difficult because the weather service’s official gauge is at Durango-La Plata County Airport, after being in town for decades, so it’s not comparing apples with apples.

But the record high for June 29 was either 1990, with 98 degrees, or 1998, with 94 degrees. For those who keep their eyes on the thermometer, the record high temperature for Tuesday was 96 degrees in 2002 or 94 degrees in 1990.

There is a chance for thunderstorms through Friday in town, with the highest chances Monday and Monday night and Wednesday and Wednesday evening.

“At a glance, it looks like the monsoon season has arrived, but this is all moisture coming in from the south from tropical storm action,” Stackhouse said. “For at least the next several days, it will be a recycled pattern day after day.”

The likelihood of rain, and even some hail, is higher at elevation, she said, so river runoff may continue to be above-normal this week. On Monday, the Animas River was running at 2,620 cubic feet per second, while the median flow for this date is 1,830 cfs.

There had been talk of early monsoons, the summer afternoon rain that cools temperatures and brings moisture to the area, because of the El Niño weather pattern off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean. But Stackhouse said current forecasts show the monsoons, which refer to a specific weather pattern, arriving more or less on schedule in July.

Those planning a picnic or who want to watch the parade for the Fourth of July may have an ideal day. The forecast for Saturday is mostly sunny with a high near 86 degrees.

abutler@durangoherald.com



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