Wet summer not abnormal; expect more moisture

DENVER - After years of dry, drought-like summers, the recent rains may seem abnormal. There has been periodic street flooding, water levels have been running high since June and many areas of the Front Range have been much greener than in years past.

Bob Henson, a meteorologist and writer at the National Center for Atmospheric research in Boulder, says the cycle of afternoon rain or thunderstorms is to be expected this time of year.

"Denver's climate in the summer time is classically sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoons with showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. From that point of view that's normal. What's a little unusual this summer is how much rain we've gotten. Denver came close to setting its all-time wettest June," Henson said.

Henson says the unpredictable nature of weather is just that, and he can't point to a certain set of conditions that can explain why this summer is wetter than previous ones.

"It's a little hard to say sometimes what kicks off a moist pattern or dry pattern, but once they're in place there's a lot of self perpetuation. So once it is wet, it can tend to rain day after day and the moisture can keep cycling through," Henson said.

Henson says it's unlikely that this wet weather is being driven by El Nino, which warms the waters of the tropical Pacific and can cause major atmospheric changes. Government forecasters say the latest cycle of El Nino officially began last week.

Henson says considering that timing, El Nino played no role in the June's rains. That said, Henson says be on the look out come fall.

"What often happens in El Nino years is we get a big snowstorm somewhere around October or November," Henson said.

Until then and until the next storm, try to soak in the summer.