Denver experiencing unusually warm, dry fall

November 20, 11:54 AMDenver City Buzz ExaminerRichard Blake

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The average date for the first snowfall in Denver is October 17th.  This year that first snowfall was over three weeks late and amounted to just a tenth of an inch.  There has been no appreciable snowfall since.   The cause is the persistent high pressure system that has been sitting over nearly all of the western United States which has contributed to the hot, dry conditions that have led to disastrous wildfires in southern California.  Local lure holds that the first heavy snow of the year occurs on Halloween.  This year Halloween saw a record high.  Tuesday November 18th also broke the record high for that date by a full four degrees.  The old record high for that date is 74.  This year the high was 78 degrees, extremely unusual for November, usually the second highest snowfall month of a typical year. 

While Denverites are enjoying the prolonged summer-like weather, there is a underlying sense of dread.  Denver, as is the case in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles as well, is heavily dependent on heavy mountain snows in the Rockies for its year-round water supply.  A visit to the mountains yesterday demonstrated snow only at the very highest altitudes.  Even there the snow was spotty at best.  Fairplay, Colorado, in South Park, which sits at an altitude of 10,000 feet yesterday recorded a temperature of 60 degrees.  At Colorado's latitude timberline is at roughly 11,400 feet.  The area above timberline has a growing season which is normally too short for trees to grow, the equivalent to the tundra clilmate found in northern Canada and Alaska.