a??Today was another record-breaking day,a?? the evening radio or television declares. High temperatures, low temperatures, floods, drought a?? take your choice. But how can we put these pronouncements in perspective? What do they really mean?
We present two types of information in this article: 1) an analysis of daily air temperature and precipitation for Fort Collins and 2) an analysis of annual precipitation for Fort Collins. Each analysis provides a different meaning to the statement about a record-breaking day or year.