Summer and high flows arrive in Front Range

Summer seemed to arrive overnight in much of the Southwest. Temperatures and rivers were atypically low last week, but snowmelt began accumulating over a hot weekend. And the warm weather appears as though it’s here to stay. The result could be seen in the abundance of groups running the Poudre River outside of Fort Collins, Colo this week. Here, the gage height approaches three feet while the discharge hovers around 80 cubic feet per second, according to the U.S Geological Survey. While these numbers are still low compared to historical medians for this time, they represent a stark contrast to what the river looked like a week ago. Local boaters appear to be making the most of the change. – John C. Davies