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Cool Town
Wed Feb 04, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Are you ready for Winter? Our Colorado
correspondent, Bob Henson, isn't quite sure.
BH: Here in Boulder, winter is when I have to pay for my summer comfort. As a native
Oklahoman, I'm still not quite used to those midwinter days that stay way below freezing. I
can't believe how the hard-core locals strut around town in shorts or T-shirts while it's in
the 20s Fahrenheit. Then I remind myself that some of these folks will be in agony come July.
And it's true. Many people get shell-shocked when Boulder get toasty. Every Memorial Day we
play host to the Bolder Boulder, one of the nation's biggest 10-kilometer foot races. One
year it was a little above room temperature during the morning race. Our usual high-altitude
sun was going full blast. But when our local paper covered the race, they actually called the
78-degree air "blistering." In July and August our typical highs are in the upper 80s, which
feels downright pleasant to me. If it gets much above 90, then the real trouble starts. This
July we had the most number of 90-degree days for any month on record. You could spot the
cold-weather fans in an instant. They dripped down sidewalks, slathered in sunscreen, and hid
behind their sunglasses and hats. You knew they were just praying for dusk. But all they had
to do was look west to the Continental Divide to get a peek at the last bits of winter snow.
Even in our worst heat waves, it only takes a half-hour drive to get to the mountains and find
some relief. But something in my southern bones won't let me take the easy way out. A little
summer sweat is just fine -- before I have to shiver my way through winter.
The Weather Notebook is produced by the Mount Washington Observatory and funded by Subaru of
America and the National Science Foundation. We can be found on-line at weathernotebook.org.
Special funding comes from Davis Instruments, maker of the car chip. Thanks to Technical
Producer Doug Sanborn. Thanks also to Marketing Manager Melody Nester.
Today's Links
Bolder Boulder Race:
http://www.bolderboulder.com/
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