Warm fall right into “winter”
(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Remember how awesome October was? Warm temps and vivid fall colors. Well, you might say we paid for that as we jumped into November with temperatures below average and the historic storm of last week. Be careful what you wish for!
Historical Perspective
The storm last week wasn’t the biggest storm we’ve ever had in Colorado Springs or Pueblo during the month of November — but it was right up there!
The biggest storm on record in November in Colorado Springs occurred in 1991 and officially dropped 26.3″ at the airport. Last week the official total from Tuesday night through Friday was 19.3″. Most of town had more than that though, with some parts of the city getting more than two feet. The storm did set daily records for snow at the airport Tuesday through Friday and the extended nature of the winter weather is somewhat of a rarity around here.
In Pueblo, a storm in 1946 left the city with 29.3″, and last week we measured 11.1″ at the airport. Several neighborhoods in the southwest part of Steel City had between 15” and 17″ on the backyard patio furniture. Pueblo set a daily snowfall record on Friday.
Visible satellite and snow totals
Below you see a visible satellite image from 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10. There were no clouds overhead when the image was taken so all of the white that you see is the snow field left behind from last week’s storm. The yellow text is a selection of snow reports across the region that show the widespread heavy snow that fell.
If you remember the details from last week, you’ll likely recall that the rain/snow line was pretty consistently out across far eastern Colorado through the duration of the storm. The transition zone was pretty small, as areas right on the edge of this line only had about an inch of snow, but some areas less than a mile into the snow field have 5″-7″ reported. Here’s a link to an interactive map from the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network if you want to see the other snow reports from across southern Colorado.
How much water was in that snow?
A widespread one to three inches of liquid fell over the area with last week’s storm once the snow melted down.
