DENVER — Summer is a month away. Yes, you read that right.
The summer solstice takes place at 3:13 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21. That's barely a month away from this snowy Friday.
That's probably impossible to believe considering the bitterly cold and snowy weather that the Denver area saw on Friday. But yes, our late May snowstorm falls just a few weeks before summer's official start date on June 21.
The summer solstice is when the sun's rays are directly over the Tropic of Cancer, the farthest north they'll go all year. That means it's officially summer, and it also means it's the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.
And yes, that's probably a weird thing to think about as Colorado experiences a potentially historic late May snowstorm. But, those high near-summer sun angles are playing a big role in our snowstorm.
Roads have remained mostly wet around eastern Colorado, even as fairly heavy snow falls. That's thanks to the strong sun angle melting snow as it hits the warm ground, heated by both our warm temperatures from earlier this week and the high sun angle.
If our snowstorm were taking place in February or March, the sun angle would be much lower, likely increasing both snowfall totals and impacts to roads.
So while it sure doesn't look like summer, the high sun angle that precedes next month's summer solstice is still making its presence felt.
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