The first week of the January 2023 was relatively cool and unsettled across south central and southeast Colorado, before upper level ridging brought warm and dry conditions to region for the second week of January. The last half of January saw occasional disturbances bringing surges of cold and unsettled weather to the area, with a bout of Arctic air across the southeast Plains at the end of the month. February started off warm and dry across south central and southeast Colorado, with several passing weather systems through out the rest of the month bringing periods of cool and wet weather, as well as another surge of very cold Arctic air across region.
March saw a predominately strong westerly flow pattern across the Rockies, which brought ample moisture and snowfall to areas along and west of the Continental Divide, as well as generally cool, dry and windy weather to most of eastern Colorado. April saw a rollercoaster of temperatures, as passing weather systems brought periods of warm and cold temperatures and generally dry conditions through the first half of the month. A stronger storm system moved across the region through the last week of April, bringing widespread beneficial precipitation to portions of the drought stricken southeast Colorado Plains. May started out warm and dry across south central and southeast Colorado, before a slow moving weather system brought much cooler and abundant precipitation to the area from May 10th through May 12th, with wet heavy snowfall across portions of the southeast mountains and heavy rainfall to portions of the southeast Plains. On May 11th, Colorado Springs recorded 3.18 inches of precipitation, which set a new daily rainfall record for May 11th, as well as a new daily maximum precipitation record for the month of May. A relatively cool and wet weather pattern continued across the region through the end of the month, especially across southeast Colorado.
June was a cool and wet month, especially across southeast Colorado, where several storm systems brought record precipitation amounts for the month as a whole. Colorado Springs recorded 9.62 inches of precipitation through the month of June, which not only set a record for the most precipitation in the month of June, but also becomes the wettest month ever in Colorado Springs, surpassing the 8.13 inches recorded in May of 2015. July was "A Tale of of Two Cities" across southern Colorado, with dry and warm conditions prevailing across south central Colorado, while cooler and unsettled weather prevailed across southeastern Colorado. Alamosa received 0.01 inches of precipitation through out the month July, making July of 2023 the driest July on record in Alamosa, while Campo and Walsh Colorado received 6.33 inches and 6.39 inches respectively, in July, becoming the 5th and 4th wettest July's respectively. Unfortunately, the unsettled weather across the southeast plains also brought bouts of severe weather, with large hail of 2 to 4 inches in diameter, flash flooding, strong damaging wind gusts and tornadoes all observed across southeast Colorado through out the month of July. August was a generally warm and dry month across the region, with upper level ridging parked across the southern High Plains through the Desert Southwest and Great Basin through the first half of the month, keeping monsoonal moisture south and west of the Rockies. This anomalous weather pattern kept eastern Colorado in northwest flow with continued bouts of severe weather, including August 5th, when several funnel clouds where reported across El Paso county. The upper ridge broke down through the end of the month, bringing a few bouts of monsoonal moisture and locally heavy rainfall to portions of south central and southeast Colorado.
September started and ended warm and dry across south central and southeast Colorado, with a passing, unseasonably strong weather system, bringing cool temperatures, good moisture and some accumulating snow to the higher mountain peaks through the middle of the month. A few weather systems moved across the region through the month of October, with the first system bringing showers and thunderstorms and good rainfall for southern portions of the region, as well as some snowfall to the higher mountain peaks through the first week of October, The second system moved across through the middle of the month, bringing some mountain snowfall, as well as a brief cool down across the region. In between these systems, very warm temperatures were experienced across the region, until a much colder weather system moved across the state October 28th and 29th. This system brought abundant snowfall to areas over and near the higher terrain, along with well below seasonal temperatures to the region. A few weather systems moved across the region through the second and third week of November, bringing some precipitation to mainly areas over and near the higher terrain, as well as cooler temperatures areawide. In between these systems, warm and dry conditions were experienced across the region helping, to make November of 2023 warmer and drier than normal for the month as a whole. Upper level ridging, in place across the Rockies through a majority of December, would give way for a few Pacific weather systems to move the region. These passing systems brought beneficial moisture in the form of snow and rain to the region, along with only brief cool downs in temperatures.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
210 PM MST THU JAN 04 2024
...................................
...THE ALAMOSA CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2023...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1991 TO 2020
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1932 TO 2024
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM
NORMAL
................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 96 07/05/1989
LOW -50 01/28/1948
HIGHEST 95 07/17
LOWEST -24 02/17
AVG. MAXIMUM 62.0 60.3 1.7
AVG. MINIMUM 24.3 24.3 0.0
MEAN 43.2 42.3 0.9
DAYS MAX >= 90 17
DAYS MAX <= 32 15
DAYS MIN <= 32 224
DAYS MIN <= 0 36
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 11.55 1969
MINIMUM 3.40 1956
TOTALS 4.44 7.41 -2.97
DAILY AVG. T 0.02 -0.02
DAYS >= .01 41
DAYS >= .10 15
DAYS >= .50 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.39 10/02 TO 10/02
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
MAXIMUM 97.5 1973
MINIMUM 6.4 1934
TOTALS 21.8 27.9 -6.1
SINCE 7/1 5.9 10.7 -4.8
SNOWDEPTH AVG. 0
DAYS >= TRACE 24 21.6 2.4
DAYS >= 1.0 2 9.4 -7.4
GREATEST
SNOW DEPTH 5 02/15
02/16
24 HR TOTAL 4.5 02/15 TO 02/15
UBCLAALS 000
TTAA00 PUB 042032
DEGREE DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 7998 8321 -323
SINCE 7/1 3177 3533 -356
COOLING TOTAL 161 71 90
SINCE 1/1 161 71 90
FREEZE DATES
RECORD
EARLIEST 08/09/2009
LATEST 07/02/1997
EARLIEST 09/25
LATEST 06/24
................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 7.6
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 3/210 UBCLAALS 000
TTAA00 PUB 042032
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 51/230 DATE 04/03
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 71/220 DATE 04/03
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.19
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 300
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 51
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 14
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 53
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 46 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 8 RAIN 17
LIGHT RAIN 79 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 4 SNOW 12
LIGHT SNOW 41 SLEET 0
FOG 73 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 33
HAZE 28
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.
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