Annual Summary 2024 -- Alamosa

A roller coaster weather pattern was experienced across south central and southeast Colorado for the first month of 2024, with several passing weather systems bringing periods of precipitation and warm and cold temperatures to the region, including blizzard conditions to southeast Colorado on January 8th, followed by a true "Arctic Airmass" invading eastern Colorado January 12th through January 16th. February saw periods of mild and dry weather along with occasional colder and unsettled weather with passing weather systems. One passing system early in the month was able to tap into eastern Pacific moisture, as well as some Gulf of America moisture, to bring widespread rain and snow to eastern Colorado on February 3rd, with both Colorado Springs and Pueblo setting daily precipitation records, as well as Pueblo setting a new maximum daily precipitation for the month of February. A few passing systems through out February also brought windy conditions, along with the return of critical fire weather conditions to portions of south central and southeast Colorado.

March continued the previous months progressive weather pattern across the region, with periods of mild and dry weather along with occasional colder and unsettled weather with passing weather systems.  One passing system through the middle of the month brought widespread rain and snow to much of south central and southeast Colorado, with both Colorado Springs and Pueblo setting daily precipitation records, as well as Pueblo once again setting a new maximum daily precipitation for the month of March.  Despite the good precipitation, a  few passing systems through out March also brought windy conditions and critical fire weather conditions to portions of south central and southeast Colorado. April saw a mainly westerly flow pattern across Rockies, bringing periods of warm, dry and windy weather to south central and southeast Colorado. This pattern also brought increased fire danger days to much of the snow free areas across the region. Two weather systems moved across eastern Colorado towards the end of the month, bringing widespread rain and higher elevation snow to portions of the eastern mountains and plains. May brought an active weather pattern,  especially through the middle of the month and again at end of the month. In typical Colorado May fashion, Mother's Day weekend saw widespread precipitation and heavy mountain snowfall, while the end of the month featured strong to severe thunderstorms across the southeast Plains. In the 3 day period from May 9th through May 11th, Alamosa recorded 1.46 inches of precipitation (rain and melted snow), which is roughly 20 percent of Alamosa's annual precipitation (7.41 inches)! 

June saw a meandering ridge of high pressure across the Rockies, which brought periods of very warm temperatures, as well as periods of abundant available moisture and heavy rainfall to portions of south central and southeast Colorado. July and August also featured a meandering ridge of high pressure across the Rockies, which brought periods of very warm temperatures, as well as periods of abundant available moisture, heavy rainfall and cooler temperatures to south central and southeast Colorado.  

September followed the last few months of summer, in which a meandering ridge of high pressure across the Rockies brought periods of very warm temperatures, as well as allowing for a few passing weather systems and fronts to bring brief cool downs and rain and the first higher mountain snow across the region. Very warm temperatures were experienced across south central and southeast Colorado through the month of October, as upper level ridging dominated the weather through much of the month. However, one slow moving weather system through the middle of October brought abundant rain and higher elevation snow to the southern mountains and southern tier of Colorado.  November brought much colder temperatures and well above normal precipitation to all of south central and southeast Colorado. The precipitation was bolstered by a slow moving storm system which produced a widespread 1 to 3 inches, locally up to 5 inches, of rain and snow water equivalent, as well as snowfall of 2 to 6 feet across portions of southern Colorado from November 4th through 9th. After the cold and snowy November, December's weather was generally very warm and dry, with upper level ridging in place across Colorado for much of the month. 

...THE ALAMOSA CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2024...

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           92   07/12
                       07/13
                       08/05
LOWEST           -18   01/12

AVG. MAXIMUM    62.5               60.3     2.2
AVG. MINIMUM    26.8               24.3     2.5
MEAN            44.7               42.3     2.4

DAYS MAX >= 90    10
DAYS MAX <= 32    13
DAYS MIN <= 32   222
DAYS MIN <= 0     14

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
 MAXIMUM       11.55   1969
 MINIMUM        3.40   1956

TOTALS         11.36               7.41    3.95

DAILY AVG.      0.03               0.02    0.01
DAYS >= .01       71
DAYS >= .10       37
DAYS >= .50        4
DAYS >= 1.00       1

GREATEST
 24 HR. TOTAL   1.20   10/18 TO 10/19

SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
 MAXIMUM        69.1   1973
 MINIMUM         6.4   1934


TOTALS          38.3               27.9    10.4
SINCE 7/1       13.3               10.7     2.6

SNOWDEPTH AVG.     T
DAYS >= TRACE     40               21.6    18.4
DAYS >= 1.0       15                9.4     5.6

GREATEST
 SNOW DEPTH        6   11/07
                       11/08
                       11/09
 24 HR TOTAL     6.3   11/06 TO 11/07

DEGREE DAYS
HEATING TOTAL   7458               8321    -863
 SINCE 7/1      3061               3533    -472
COOLING TOTAL    127                 71      56
 SINCE 1/1       127                 71      56

FREEZE DATES
RECORD
 EARLIEST     08/09/2009
 LATEST       07/02/1997

EARLIEST                        10/01
LATEST                          06/15
................................................

WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED              7.1
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION   2/210
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION    43/220    DATE  03/02
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION    62/230    DATE  03/02

SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT)   MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER           0.19
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR          284
NUMBER OF DAYS PC             58
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY         24

AVERAGE RH (PERCENT)     56

WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM             41     MIXED PRECIP               1
HEAVY RAIN               15     RAIN                      34
LIGHT RAIN               94     FREEZING RAIN              0
LT FREEZING RAIN          0     HAIL                       0
HEAVY SNOW                7     SNOW                      19
LIGHT SNOW               40     SLEET                      0
FOG                      86     FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE     28
HAZE                     13

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