First comes the hot streak, then comes the dry spell.
National Weather Service predicts record temperatures across Colorado and much of the western U.S. this week. By Wednesday, temps here in Summit County could hit 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The Front Range will be sweating at 79 degrees. Texas and Arizona could be sweltering in the 90s with some desert areas possibly hitting triple digits.
This is the first taste of what could be a warm, dry spring and early summer. A long-range NWS prediction shows drought developing for most of the Rocky Mountains, especially the southern Rockies, where winter snowfall has already been lean. Snowpack in the southern San Juans today is 30 points below average or more.
For a second straight year, Summit County enters late March with no drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Summit is one of just four mountain counties with no abnormal dryness right now, along with Clear Creek, Grand, Gilpin and Routt counties.
If the latest NWS prediction comes true, Summit will also be spared the worsening drought. By late June two-thirds of Colorado will be drier than usual, including much of the Western Slope and the Arkansas River Basin. All of Arizona and New Mexico and most of Utah could be suffering the same.