Spring is typically a dry time of year in the Cortez area, but this year's spring has been even drier than usual. April's precipitation was just 49 percent of normal, and the month of May has so far followed suit. Volunteer cooperative weather observer James Andrus told KSJD that Cortez has had three-hundredths of an inch of rain so far this month, along with the two-tenths of an inch of snow that frosted the ground Monday morning. On average, May sees a little less than an inch of precipitation. June is usually the driest month of all, with an average of third-seven hundredths of an inch. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration currently lists Cortez as abnormally dry but not actually in drought status. The 90-day forecast predicts that drier-than-normal weather will continue. The local area is also experiencing strong and gusty winds. This is typical for spring, as invasions of cold air clash with warm air masses in a phenomenon Andrus described as "winter and summer battling it out." He said the use of the term "front" for weather masses originated with Swedish meteorologist Tor Bergeron, who saw dueling air masses as similar to the boundary between opposing military forces.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.