World and Nation

Eternal sunshine of the Fall semester

The Institute will once again experience a string of sunny days this week, with light winds and seasonable temperatures. This weather pattern will be quite similar to that of last week, in which a high pressure system was situated over New England for a majority of the week. Last week’s high pressure system resulted in sunshine from Tuesday through Saturday, before a cold front came through on Saturday night. Likewise, that cold front has ushered in a new high pressure system, which is expected to remain in place through the weekend and potentially into next week. The result will be clear skies, with temperatures reaching the upper 60s (°F) in the afternoon, and falling into the low-to-mid 50s (°F) overnight.

This streak of dry, pleasant days stands in stark contrast to the recent rain event in central Colorado. A historic storm on the week of Sept. 9 dumped over 1 foot of rain over the Boulder area. This rainfall accumulation represented over 1000% of the normal rainfall for that area in this time of year, and contributed to devastating floods in several communities.