1 week Ago
A powerful storm system will bring snow to the mountains and rain over the plains The autumn chill is later than usual, historically speaking, around Colorado Springs. And outside of a slight reprieve this weekend, the unseasonal conditions don't look to let up anytime soon. According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature in Colorado Springs for the first 17 days of October has been 61.
4 degrees , 8.1 degrees above the average. The only time this has been surpassed was back in 1963, when it averaged 62.
2 degrees over the same span of time. When looking at the average from the beginning of September through Oct. 17, the average was 64.
6, the highest recorded temperature out of 120 years of data. "So, if we continue to see these above-normal temperatures through the rest of October and into November, definitely, we will see one of the top-five falls on record," said Mark Wankowski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo. The 2024-2025 U.
S. Winter Outlook map for temperature shows the greatest chances for cooler-than-average conditions in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.
Regarding moisture this year, the majority of both El Paso and Teller counties are experiencing moderate drought, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor data.
Wankowski noted that this is typical for the region with incoming La Niña conditions and it comes after unseasonably high moisture in 2023 that totaled 25.7 inches. This year's current total of 13.
5 inches bears a closer resemblance to 2022's total of 14.29. The 2024-2025 U.
S. Winter Outlook map for precipitation shows below normal averages projected throughout the southern U.S.
As for a lack of cooler temperatures this year, Colorado Springs has experienced some brief freezes in certain areas to date. On Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Airport reported a low of 31 degrees while the Black Forest area reached the upper 20s. "So, technically, we did have a freeze.
(But) we did not have a wide, hard freeze as of yet," Wankowski said. Such a freeze doesn't look to be coming in the distant future with forecast highs in the 60s and 70s and above-average lows in the 30s and 40s next week, but with a month and a half left of the fall season, it's still too early to predict this will persist. "We could have a cold November, depending on how everything sets up," Wankowski said.
In the meantime, El Paso and Teller counties are both due to get snow and rain over the weekend. A winter storm warning is in effect for some of the southern mountains, including the San Juan, La Garita and southern Sangre de Cristo mountains while winter weather advisories are in effect for the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, lower elevations of the San Juans and higher elevations of the eastern Sawatch and Wet mountains and Pikes Peak. Moderate to heavy rain is forecast throughout the eastern plains Saturday.
Rainfall amounts look to be about 2-3 inches over the far southeast plains by Sunday, according to Kaitie LaSalle with KOAA..
