John McGinley, Peak to Peak.

January 2021: Days and days of westerly winds brought flurries to the Peak to Peak region but no major snow. The weather pattern brought many promising days of upper level disturbances that could not phase with cold polar highs coming out of Canada. Without these we cannot get the upslope we need to get significant snow. Our storm maximum was a paltry three inches. Snow for the month was under a foot, four inches below normal. Windy days were many and we had frequent blowing snow. The snow cover was well below normal. Temperatures were close to normal.

Precipitation: Snow totaled 11.7 inches below the normal of 16.1 inches. What was striking was the low water content of 0.62 inches. We had many days where the liquid-snow ratio was 20 to 40. Light fluffy snow for sure. We had 10 days of measurable snow but most of these were a few tenths of an inch. The big day was three inches on the 9th.

Temperature: Slightly cooler than normal highs and warmer than normal lows. This is a trend we have been seeing for many years. We don’t get as cold at night with a lack of polar or Arctic air. Average high was 33F, average low was 18F compared to the averages of 34F and 15F. Warmest high was 46F on the 28th and coldest high was 18F on the 26th. Coldest low was 3F on the 10th. It’s rare for January to not have a below zero reading.

Winds:  Fairly average month for winds with 12 days at 40+ mph and four days over 60 mph.

Other Features: An active jet stream with many disturbances mostly brought downslope and flurry snow east of the Divide. Western Colorado did much better with above normal snow the rule.

Outlook for February: February doesn’t really warm up much with average highs of 36F and lows of 15F. Precipitation is much like January with 18 inches of snow and about one inch of liquid. Ten days are windy with two at 60+mph. The long range models indicate the arrival of Arctic air by the 9th, holding us in the icebox until mid month. After that warming conditions are likely. The precipitation outlook for the month is for drier than normal conditions.

(Originally published in the February 11, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)