NWS Grand Junction, ColoradoJune 2020

Climate Summary for Eastern Utah and Western Colorado

June was an active month across E UT/W CO with numerous days of critical fire weather conditions, high wind events, and severe thunderstorms. A very moist and strong Pacific storm approached the

Great Basin on Friday, June 5. A quick moving outflow boundary enhanced the wind threat from thunderstorms forming along it which led to numerous reports of strong winds and localized

damage. The following day’s disturbance caused a widespread severe weather event that would become the first derecho to impact the W Slope in well over a decade. Severe storms produced wind

gusts upwards of 60 to 80 mph on average with some gusts topping 80 to 100 mph in some areas due to strong downburst winds. There were multiple reports of uprooted trees, downed power lines,

at least one roof was torn off with others damaged, and several houses/cabins and vehicles were damaged by falling trees and/or large hail. Very heavy rain also fell which led to flash flooding in some areas. A strong and abnormally cold trough lifted across the area at the end of the month

which dropped temperatures some 10 degrees below normal and even produced some light snow accumulations in the mountains with snow levels dropping to ~8,800 ft.

June was on average drier than normal across the region as 7 out of the 10 automated stations found at airports across E UT/W CO ended the month with below normal precipitation. June was generally warmer than normal with mean temperatures ranging 1 to 4 degrees above normal.

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Produced by Megan Stackhouse, Meteorologist

Sunset at GJT Airport on 6/26(Credit: Michael Charnick)

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Page Number Page Title

1 Cover 2 Table of Contents3 Story of the Month4 Temperatures5 Precipitation6 Total Monthly Precipitation7 Monthly Precipitation Departure from Normal8 Daily Record Reports9 Drought Conditions as of June 3010 Next Month Outlook

Please note that all data mentioned is collected from our automated observing stations from 10 different airports across eastern Utah and western Colorado. Some of our cooperative observers in

more remote areas June have measured warmer or colder temperatures, or more or less precipitation than what was mentioned in this summary.

Table of Contents

Story of the Month6 JUNE DERECHO

Severe storms produced wind gusts upwards of 60 to 80 mph with some gusts topping 80 to 100 mph due to strong downburst winds. There were multiple reports of uprooted trees, downed power lines, at least one roof was torn off with others damaged, and several houses/cabins and vehicles were damaged by falling trees and/or large hail. Additionally, areas of heavy rain led to localized

flash flooding.

3Roof damage in Craig, CO(Credit: Lucas Bergstrom)

Tree damage on Grand Mesa, CO(Credit: Shawn Montgomery)

Hail in Monticello, UT(Credit: Monticello COOP)

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LocationAverage Temp (°F)(Versus Normal)

Warmest Temp (°F) Coldest Temp (°F)

Aspen, CO 59.9 (+2.4) 85 on 6/5 33 on 6/8-9

Cortez, CO 68.0 (+3.6) 96 on 6/24-25 34 on 6/9

Craig, CO 61.3 (+1.8) 91 on 6/5, 24 33 on 6/11

Durango, CO 64.6 (+2.5) 92 on 6/23-25 33 on 6/8

Grand Junction, CO 73.1 (+1.1) 100 on 6/5 37 on 6/9

Meeker, CO 61.5 (+0.7) 91 on 6/5, 24 34 on 6/10, 20

Montrose, CO 69.7 (+1.5) 94 on 6/5 40 on 6/8

Rifle, CO 69.4 (+3.2) 98 on 6/5 39 on 6/10

Canyonlands Airport, UT 74.1 (+1.1) 101 on 6/25 40 on 6/9

Vernal, UT 66.6 (+1.3) 95 on 6/5, 25 34 on 6/9

June 2020 Temperatures

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LocationTotal Precipitation

(in.)Departure from Normal

(in.)

Aspen, CO 1.06 -0.07

Cortez, CO 0.30 -0.18

Craig, CO 0.67 -0.65

Durango, CO 0.25 -0.39

Grand Junction, CO 0.51 +0.05

Meeker, CO 1.12 -0.12

Montrose, CO 0.23 -0.54

Rifle, CO 0.09 -0.93

Canyonlands Airport, UT 0.85 +0.35

Vernal, UT 0.96 +0.16

June 2020 Precipitation

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Total Monthly Precipitation

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Monthly Precipitation Departure from Normal

June Daily Record Reports

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A total of 2 daily records were set across the primary climate sites. T stands for tied.

Site Date Record Type New Record Previous Record

Grand Junction, CO June 5th High Max Temperature

100° 99° in 1977

Grand Junction, CO June 9th Low Min Temperature

37° - T 37° in 1894

High Max Low Max Precip High Min Low Min

Key

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Extreme (D3) drought conditions continued to expand across portions of southwest and west-central Colorado. Additionally, the Severe (D2) drought expanded further west.

Further north, Abnormally Dry (D0) to Moderate (D1) conditions persisted.

Source:http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

Drought Conditions as of June 30th

For July, the latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) shows oddsfavoring warmer than normal temperatures across all of eastern Utah and westernColorado and below normal precipitation.

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Precipitation

Temperatures

July Outlook