National Climatic Data Center, 13 September 2002

According to the Colorado state climatologist (Dr. Roger Pielke Sr.), the June-July period had the highest average upper-level characteristics (average 700 mb temperatures, 850-700 mb thicknesses, and 500 mb heights) in the NCEP Reanalysis period of record (1948-2002) over the state. (Upper atmospheric patterns are an important controlling factor of the temperature and rainfall regime at the surface.) Precipitation deficits over the last year were among the worse (but not the worst) for most individual locations in the last century. The impacts, however, exceeded the severity expected from the precipitation deficits alone. This suggests that we have become more vulnerable to drought in Colorado.