The Transition Between Seasons

Summer 2007 is rapidly drawing to a close -- and Mother Nature is busy showing us hints of the days ahead.

Many have experienced a pre-autumn chill over the past few days. Snow was even reported in northern Minnesota over the weekend as lows dipped into the 20s and 30s.

Here in Colorado, snow fell in the mountains above 11,000 feet Sunday night, closing Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park for a few hours Monday morning.

And from northern Colorado to Wyoming and Montana, the annual fall color show is underway.

Another sign of the transition from summer to fall is severe weather -- yes I said severe weather! Not so much for us in the Rockies, but CoCoRaHS states like Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and points south can see short but potent outbreaks of severe weather this time of year. Some southern states actually see a second peak in severe weather during the autumn months as cold air from Canada collides with warm moist air hovering along the Gulf of Mexico.

Something that we will see less and less of in the days to come are Intense Precipitation Reports for heavy rain on CoCoRaHS as the cold weather season takes over. But if you happen to experience intense precipitation in the days ahead and can file a report, we'd love to document this information.

One observer in La Plata County, Colorado experienced 0.42 inches of rain in 6 minutes on Monday afternoon. And in Santa Fe County, New Mexico -- a CoCoRaHS observer saw almost 2.50 inches of rain in 4 hours from a series of slow-moving thunderstorms.

You can check out both of these reports filed on 9/17/2007 by Clicking Here. It will default to Colorado, but if you choose "Select State" in the pull-down menu it will pull any reports from all CoCoRaHS observers.