National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heat Continues for the East and South-Central U.S.; Strong to Severe Storms Across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

The extremely dangerous heat wave continues across the East Coast and much of the South-Central U.S. today. Record high temperatures are expected for some areas especially across the Mid-Atlantic where extreme heat risk conditions reside. There is a Slight Risk (level 2 of 5) of severe thunderstorms today for the northern Mid-Atlantic into portions of southern New England. Read More >

January of 2019 started out cold and unsettled, as a passing weather system ushered in some of the coldest air of the season across the area on New Years Day. The rest of January can be characterized by periodic weather disturbances moving through persistent moderate west to northwest flow aloft across the Rockies. This pattern brought beneficial snowfall to areas over and near the higher terrain, with periods of warm temperatures and strong winds, as well as brief periods of moisture and cold temperatures, to the Southeast Plains. February of 2019 continued the weather pattern of the previous month, with periodic weather disturbances moving through persistent moderate west to northwest flow aloft across the Rockies. This pattern brought abundant and beneficial snowfall to areas over and near the higher terrain, especially the Southwest Mountains, with Wolf Creek Ski resort reporting over 5 feet of snow in one 7 day period.  This pattern also brought periods of warm temperatures and strong winds, as well as brief periods of moisture and cold arctic intrusions to the Southeast Plains. 

March of 2019 was a cool and wet month across most of South Central and Southeast Colorado. as periodic weather disturbances moved across the Rockies, bringing abundant  snowfall to areas over and near the higher terrain, especially along and west of the Continental Divide. This snowfall produced an unprecedented amount of avalanches across Colorado's High County through out the month of March. This pattern also produced an extremely powerful low pressure system across southern Colorado on March 13th, bringing strong and damaging winds and widespread rain to the  Southeast Plains, blizzard conditions over El Paso County, and dropping feet of snow over the mountains. The "bombogenesis" event of March 13th also set records as it produced the lowest surface pressure ever recorded (970.4 mb in Lamar) in the state, along with several records of the strongest wind gusts across Southeast Colorado, including a record setting 96 mph wind gust at the Colorado Springs Airport. April of 2019 was roller coaster month for temperatures,  especially across the southeast Plains, as  weather systems moving across the Rockies brought periods of unseasonably warm weather followed by periods of unseasonably cool weather to the region. These systems also brought bouts of rain and snow, especially for areas over and near the higher terrain. May of 2019 continued to be a roller coaster month for weather across the state, with a few spells of warm and dry weather, along with periods of unseasonably cold and strong weather systems bringing abundant rain and snow across the area, as well as bouts of severe weather across the southeast Plains. 

June of 2019 continued to be a roller coaster month for weather across the state, with a few warm and dry spells followed by unseasonably cold and strong weather systems bringing rain, mountain snow and severe storms across the area. Accumulating snowfall was even recorded across the higher peaks on the first full day of Summer, June 22nd. High pressure aloft built into the region bringing an extended period of "summer warmth" for the last week of the month.  July of 2019 saw temperatures rise to more "summer" like  conditions across most of south central and southeast Colorado. In addition, bouts of "monsoonal moisture" brought some bursts of  heavy rainfall, along with a few rounds of severe thunderstorms, across the area through out the month of July. August of 2019 was generally hot and dry across south central and southeast Colorado, as upper level high pressure persisted across the Desert Southwest and Four Corners region, which limited the amount of monsoonal moisture moving into the region.   

September of 2019 started off where August left off, hot and mainly dry across south central and southeast Colorado. Colorado Springs set or tied 3 daily record high temperatures through the first 5 days of the month, while Pueblo tied or set 4 daily record highs through the first five days of September! Warm and mainly dry conditions continued through most of the rest of September, as upper level high pressure persisted across the Desert Southwest and Four Corners region. October of 2019 was the polar opposite of September, with several unseasonably strong and cold systems moving across Colorado bringing early season record cold temperatures as well as the seasons first snowfall for many locales. Of note, Pueblo set the coldest temperature ever recorded in October of -6F on October 30th, beating the previous October record low temperature of -4F set on October 29th of 1917!  November of 2019 saw a few passing weather systems moving across the state through the fist half of the month, bringing periods of warm and cold temperatures along with some light precipitation across the area. For the last half of the month, several unseasonably strong and cold systems moved across Colorado, bringing abundant snowfall for many locales along with colder than normal temperatures through the end of the month. December of 2019 saw several passing weather systems across the state, bringing periods of cold and snow, along with periods of above to well above seasonal temperatures. 

...THE COLORADO SPRINGS CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2019...

               CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1981 TO 2010
               CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1872 TO 2019

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART
                VALUE   DATE(S)   VALUE   FROM
                                          NORMAL
................................................

TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
 HIGH            101   06/21/2016
                       06/26/2012

 LOW             -27   02/01/1951
                       12/09/1919

HIGHEST           97   07/19
                       07/18
LOWEST             0   01/01

AVG. MAXIMUM    63.8               62.2     1.6
AVG. MINIMUM    35.7               35.8    -0.1
MEAN            49.7               49.0     0.7

DAYS MAX >= 90    36
DAYS MAX <= 32    22
DAYS MIN <= 32   173
DAYS MIN <= 0      1

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
 MAXIMUM       27.58   1999
 MINIMUM        6.07   1939

TOTALS         11.75              16.54   -4.79
DAILY AVG.      0.03               0.05   -0.02

DAYS >= .01       89
DAYS >= .10       29
DAYS >= .50        2
DAYS >= 1.00       1

GREATEST
 24 HR. TOTAL   1.98   05/20 TO 05/21

SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
 MAXIMUM        96.4   1957
 MINIMUM        11.4   2012
 24 HR TOTAL    22.0   01/15/1987 TO 01/15/1987
 SNOW DEPTH       20   10/26/1997

TOTALS          52.3               37.7    14.6
SINCE 7/1       25.5               13.5    12.0

SNOWDEPTH AVG.     0
DAYS >= TRACE     58               29.2    28.8
DAYS >= 1.0       19               11.6     7.4

GREATEST
 SNOW DEPTH        5   10/27
                       05/21
 24 HR TOTAL     7.1   10/27 TO 10/28

DEGREE DAYS
HEATING TOTAL   6187               6292    -105
 SINCE 7/1      2471               2572    -101
COOLING TOTAL    721                455     266
 SINCE 1/1       721                455     266

FREEZE DATES
RECORD
 EARLIEST     09/01/1911
 LATEST       06/18/1912

EARLIEST                        10/07
LATEST                          05/21
................................................

WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED              9.3
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION   1/050
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION    62/340    DATE  03/13
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION    96/320    DATE  03/13

SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT)   MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER           0.51
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR           90
NUMBER OF DAYS PC            215
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY         60

AVERAGE RH (PERCENT)     51

WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM             73     MIXED PRECIP               4
HEAVY RAIN               20     RAIN                      35
LIGHT RAIN              121     FREEZING RAIN              0
LT FREEZING RAIN          6     HAIL                       5
HEAVY SNOW                8     SNOW                      23
LIGHT SNOW               55     SLEET                      0
FOG                     102     FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE     29
HAZE                     57

-  INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R  INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T  INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.