Last Summer in Colorado, 2018, was very dry and the state went into a drought, broken by a wet, snowy Winter. That Summer was hot and wildfires raged in the forests. This Summer so far has been cool and wet in the higher elevations, with rain almost every day. Last Summer the high temperature in Breckenridge at 9,600" elevation, reached 90 degrees F. This Summer so far has been much cooler, even on the Plains, with highs in the low 90s. Colorado has seen a respite from the global warming affecting the rest of the globe. This is probably not a trend for Colorado, but just a weather variation - next Summer may get hotter again, even after another wet Winter. The wildflowers are late this Summer because the huge snowpack has taken so long to melt. I will be going to Vail Pass to photograph what I expect will be a profusion of wildflowers with snow capped peaks in the distance. Last Summer the peaks were bare in late June. This year's respite from global warming in Colorado probably won't last - there is concern that the earth is approaching a climatological tipping point, when changes suddenly accelerate unlike the gradual changes in the past. For us, trying to slow the rate of climate change is like pushing a elephant with a fingertip. We could all go back to the Stone Age, reducing our carbon footprint by 99%,, and it probably would not make much of an impact. The carbon in the atmosphere, and the delayed effects of the carbon from years past are leading to irreversible changes in the global climate. And there is the sun and the earth's axis, and so on..Lots of those pesky variables that escape measurement. The dinosaurs thrived for over 200 million years in a world without polar ice caps and temperatures of over 110 degrees everywhere. We are the most intelligent life that ever lived on the earth. We can adapt. We will.
