Best time to visit Colorado

There are a few surprises with the Coloradan climate. First, there are three hundred days of sunshine, so even when it’s snowing it’s glowing. Throughout spring and summer that sun starts to heat up, although the mornings and evenings can still be cool, with the high altitude chill being felt through most of the western side of the state’s Continental Divide. But when it’s hot here, it is really hot, with temperatures soaring into the mid 30’s in the summer months although if you head for the hills, they are cooler, of course. Colorado newbies can never be prepared enough for the aridity here. It is dry. Even as the snow is melting all around and the rivers are cascading at speed, it feels as dry as a desert. And then there is the phenomenon of the Colorado monsoon. This happens in the summer months, when the clouds come out of nowhere, the mountains start to rumble and rain storms lash the peaks and troughs. It all explodes for just a moment and then that sun comes back just in time to allow dramatic lightshows around the mountains and canyons.