Tag: flooding

It's been raining a lot in Denver. On the extreme off-chance that you need hard numbers to believe it, the average total rainfall for...

The biggest reason cited by the Pueblo County commissioners recently when they rejected a rezoning request to accommodate a proposed nuclear power plant was their collective concern about a lack of water to cool the plant. Colorado's only nuclear plant, Fort St. Vrain, was gas-cooled because of concerns about water, ultimately closing it down in 1989. But a lack of water is the last thing worrying nuclear regulatory officials in Nebraska these days.

All you have to do is look toward the mountains to know something unusual is happening. It's pushing June, and Colorado high country remains decidedly white. It's not unusual to see snow on the mountains any time of year. What is unusual is the depth of that snow.

The skiing is still good at those Colorado resorts still open. The views to the west from Denver are still of freshly snow-packed mountains. Colorado finally has some moisture. All is good, in other words. Perhaps. If it all melts at once, though, Colorado and other Western states could be in for a world of hurt.

Federal regulators late last week shut down a Utah coal mine owned by a company that also owns Colorado’s West Elk Mine, citing elevated...