The first month of meteorological winter felt more like spring for much of Colorado. Grand Junction and Denver had their second-warmest December on record. The unusual warmth is causing impacts in a region that relies on cold and snow this time of year.
The Boulder National Weather Service office called Fort Collins’ numbers for December “eye-popping.” The city, which has one of the state’s longest-standing climate sites, had its warmest December, surpassing the previous mark by more than 3 degrees. Fort Collins also had three days that reached 70 degrees or more in December, a record.
“There were just some extremely warm temperatures in December,” noted National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Phillips, per Vail Daily. “You can see that in the averages that were 8 to 9 degrees above normal.”…