With a late spring cold snap, and an early September freeze, climate data show the 2014 summer was the shortest growing season in more than 30 years along Colorado鈥檚 Front Range.
From frost to frost, the growing season in Fort Collins was just 123 days. A little further south in Denver, gardeners enjoyed just 121 productive growing days. Overall, that鈥檚 more than a month shorter than average. Usually Fort Collins鈥� growing season is 156 days, and 155 days in Denver. This was the shortest growing season since 1983.
鈥淥ur last spring freeze was May 13th and our first fall freeze was September 13th and that was the earliest freeze we鈥檝e had since 1974,鈥� says Wendy Ryan, a climatologist with the Colorado Climate Center in Fort Collins.
The shortened season choked off some varieties of crops for gardeners and farmers. It was also marked by several hail storms in between the freezes. But when looking at the historical record, Ryan says the past decade has been relatively warm and dry and this latest growing season could actually be a return to normal.
Still, not even climatologists are immune to the seemingly schizophrenic weather patterns.
鈥淚 can attest to the fact that I still have plenty of green tomatoes in my garden,鈥� Ryan says.
