A dark and stormy night at Pagosa Peak…photo by Mark Langford
Friday – 29 Jul 2022 – 9:15am update.
The past…
The high on Wednesday at Stevens Field was 75 and the low this morning was 54. We finally saw widespread rain yesterday!




Forecast discussion…
Finally, we saw a widespread, slow rain event for Pagosa Springs! I can’t think of a better precipitation deliver scenario (other than snow) than what we saw last evening. While most of us ended up with over an inch of rain in the Pagosa area, I have seen some of you reporting totals of over 2 inches at Aspen Springs-3 and over 3 inches about 3 miles south on HWY 84. Thanks to all of you who chimed in on Facebook this morning.
The NWS has issued a Flood Watch for us from 10am through 10pm tonight. The same weather setup is in place…lots of tropical moisture just looking for a trigger to drop heavy pockets of rain. The best chance for heavier rain is today and tomorrow, but rain odds will continue high into next week, just lesser rain totals. The Weather Prediction Center has placed Archuleta County in the Yellow Zone (10-20% chance) for excessive rainfall today. We will continue to see slow moving cells, so once one finds your backyard, you could see some heavy rain.
The Grand Junction radar is down for maintenance until August 2nd. Our only coverage until then will be from Albuquerque, NM, which only goes to HWY 160 and Alamosa’s which can only be seen using the MMRS radar viewer and covers some areas east of town, including Wolf Creek Pass. Here is the link to the MMRS site: Op Product Viewer (noaa.gov)
We continue to be sandwiched between a ridge to our north and a one over Texas. Moisture in the mid-levels and surface is flowing into our area, increasing our precipitable water values to over an inch (monsoon conditions). Latest model runs forecast our monsoon flow to continue at least through the weekend and into next week.
For all of you visiting our beautiful area, please be careful when you go out on hikes, especially in the afternoons. Totally clear mornings can quickly turn into stormy afternoons with 20-30 degree drop in temps, heavy rain, hail, lightning and gusty winds over 40mph! Make sure you pack rain gear because being wet when temps drop to the 50’s can be more than uncomfortable…it can be dangerous.





My forecast…

Pagosa Springs historical data for July 29th
Average High | Record High / Year | Average Low | Record Low / Year |
83 | 93/ 1947 | 46 | 27 / 1913 |
Call 877-841-0247 for our “dial up and text” forecast.
Check out my Pagosa Peak Cam (myearthcam.com) for watching hikers, bikers and of course, the weather.
-Mark Langford
One Response
2″ of rain last night at 479 Cimarrona Circle and Falcom