John McGinley, Peak to Peak. January 2019: The first month of the new year was a good one for moisture. We ended up with above normal precipitation with nearly 2 feet of snow and over an inch of liquid. Snow cover over the area was extensive, with 4-6 inches common through most of the month. Temperatures were a couple of degrees above normal with cooler than normal highs and warmer than normal lows. Winds really cranked up with 16 windy days and five of those 60 mph or greater.

Precipitation: A good month with 23.1 inches of snow that melted out to 1.38 inches. This was more than the normal of 18 and 1.07 inches respectively. Most of the snow occurred on two events: 8 inches on the 11-12th and 11 inches from the 22nd to the 24th.

Temperature: Average high was 33.8F and the average low was 18.9F. This is compared to the long term means of 36.0F and 14.9F, respectively. The warmest day was 49F on the 5th with the coldest day 5F, on the 13th. Coldest high was 17F on the 1st.

Winds: It was a brutal month, with 16 days at 40+mph and 5 of those days at 60+mph. The peak wind was 70 mph on the 27th.

Other features: Westerly to northwesterly flow was common over the month with a couple of storms moving out of the Pacific. Colorado was fortunate to miss the extreme cold that arrived over the central US in the last week of the month. Being on the edge of the cold arctic high-pressure systems did manage to give us some upslope and snow.

Outlook for February: A tendency to maintain a trough aloft over the west coast will keep flow westerly or southwesterly over Colorado. We should see wetter and cooler than normal conditions. Storms look likely around the 8th and the 18th. In a normal February we see highs of 36F and lows of 15F, although these could be lower. Precipitation is 18 inches of snow with about an inch of liquid. We might see more than this.

(Originally published in the February 7, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)