Here are Farmers' Almanac, National Weather Service summer weather forecasts for Colorado

Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·2 min read

Accurate weather forecasting is a tricky business, even more so the longer out the forecast.

So, take these late spring and summer weather forecasts from the Farmers' Almanac and National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center with a grain of salt:

Here's what the Farmers' Almanac is forecasting for Colorado this summer

A seesaw of summer temperatures with an overall warm season, but with occasional cold Canadian air blowing in.

That largely describes a pretty typical Colorado summer.

The Farmers' Almanac designates Colorado in the North Central Region, which includes Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

Here's what the National Weather Service's long-range outlook is forecasting for Colorado this summer

  • Temperature: For May-August, above average temperature.

  • Precipitation: For May-July, below-average precipitation for most of the West Slope and equal chances of average precipitation for the rest of the state, trending to drier conditions statewide into August.

Here's what the Farmers' Almanac is forecasting for specific holidays for the Colorado region

A group visits the Field of Honor display in Spring Canyon Community Park in Fort Collins on May 27, 2023.
A group visits the Field of Honor display in Spring Canyon Community Park in Fort Collins on May 27, 2023.

  • Memorial Day weekend (May 24-27): Cold, dry air sweeps in from the Rockies.

  • Father's Day (June 16): Hot and dry.

  • July 4: Fair, dry, very warm.

How the transition from El Nino to La Nina might impact our Colorado weather

Currently, we are in the process of transitioning from an El Niño weather pattern to an ENSO-neutral (neither El Niño nor La Niña) pattern, according to the National Weather Service.

There is a 49% chance we will move to La Niña in June through August and 69% chance July through September.

This transition generally doesn't have much impact on our weather in summer but can have more dramatic impacts in winter.

Typically, the biggest impact this transition to La Niña creates is more and stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and fewer hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean.

CSU's hurricane forecast for this season calls for an "extremely active" hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, with a prediction of 11 hurricanes this year compared to an average year of 7.2 and 23 named storms compared to an average of 14.4.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado summer forecast by Farmers' Almanac, National Weather service