According to data gathered from the National Climate Data Center, Colorado just went through its third hottest summer on record.
The highlighted box shows, from a period of 124 years, this was the 122nd warmest year in Colorado, or third warmest ever.
If you look at this map of the average temperature of Colorado from June through August, more than half of the state fell within the top 10% of the warmest summer temperatures on record.
What’s worse is that much of the western half of Colorado, much of which covered in lush forest land, saw record warm temps during this three month stretch.
This summer actually tied as the 4th warmest on record for the United States. Looking at the map, the biggest heat this season stretched from California through the four corners region and down into Texas.
Heavy drought was the primary driver of our heat this year and of course, lead to the very active fire season. Looking at the map of precipitation through the bulk of summer, barely any of Colorado saw above average rainfall, with central and western Colorado mostly coming in much below average.
