January 2022: After the horrors of last month welcomed the arrival of 2022 with more than twice average snow and abundant moisture. As we have seen for the last seven months we were warmer than normal. Through the month strong upper level disturbances moved in from the northwest with some upslope events that added to the snow total. As is typical for January we had a number of windy days.

Temperature: Another warm one with an average high of 36F, with an average low of 28F. These averaged out to 2.5 degrees above normal. Highest high was 51F on the 13th; lowest high was 13F on the 1st. Coldest day was -4F on the 5th.

Precipitation: A good solid month for snow and moisture with 33.6 inches that melted out to 2.42 inches. Normals are 16 inches and 0.9 inches respectively. Big event was a four day storm from the 4th to the 7th that resulted in over 18 inches. Another series of smaller events in the last 10 days of the month added another foot.

Winds: What would January be without winds? Well, we weren’t disappointed with 15 windy days (40+mph) and three days over 60mph. This was close to normal.

Other Features: A persistent ridge over the western US brought us a combination of disturbances out of the northwest and arctic incursions out of the north. A good combination to produce snow in winter along the Front Range.

Outlook for February: A typical February day has a high of 36F and a low of 15F. We get 18 inches of snow melting out to an inch. Ten days are windy. The long range models indicate a continuation of our northwesterly flow with a number of disturbances likely. The 10th, 12th, and 17th look like light snow days, nothing major at this time.