An unearthly landscape of windblown snow in the foreground of Pagosa Peak…taken a couple of days ago after winds gusted to over 40 mph along with a rain-snow mix. Somewhere below all of that snow is a 3- foot-tall cattle fence! Photo © 2023-Mark Langford
Saturday – 25 March. 2023 – 9:45am
The past…
At Stevens Field the high yesterday was 38 and the low this morning was 6 degrees, only 3 degrees above the all-time record low of 3 degrees. Humidity bottomed out at 44%. Winds gusted to 22 mph yesterday at a nearby remote sensor…the airfield’s anemometer continues to be on the fritz!
Precipitation summary: Chama, NM was the snow lottery winner yesterday in our area with 3.2 inches. Snow totals in Archuleta County ranged from 0.1 to 1.6 inches.
Pagosa Springs historical data
| Average High | Record High / Year | Average Low | Record Low / Year |
| 52 | 73/ 1940 | 19 | 3/ 1958 |
Forecast discussion…
Continued below normal temperatures is our main weather feature this week. Yesterday’s cold front and trough brought 1-1.5 inches of snow for our area and dropped our low temperatures overnight to below zero and single digits for most of us. The upper Piedra recorded -9 this morning and my sensor about a mile north of Hatcher Lake dropped to -6 degrees. The average low is 19 degrees and the average high is 52 degrees. Highs today will struggle to rise above freezing for many of us, despite mostly cloud free skies. The closest we will get to normal temperatures this week will be on Wednesday, when highs will reach the upper 40’s to low 50s ahead of the next cold front and trough that moves through on Thursday. Temperatures will once again drop back to below normal, and we have another chance for snow. As of this post, we could see 2-4 inches of snow in the valley from that storm.
Tomorrow, a weak trough moves through in the afternoon, giving us another chance for some snow showers, but most of us will see less than a half inch of snow.
5-Day Forecast…
The rest of the day-Partly cloudy and cold with highs in the low to mid 30’s. SW winds 10-15 with gusts to 20mph. Highs in the low to mid 30’s.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with lows below zero to single digits and highs in the low to mid 30’s. SW winds 10-15 with gusts to 25mph. A chance for snow showers in the afternoon.
0-1/2 inch of snow for the valley and 0-2 inches for the mountains.
Monday-Tuesday: Mostly sunny with lows in the single digits and teens and highs in the upper 30’s to low 40’s. SW winds 10-15 with gusts to 25mph.
Wednesday: Partly cloudy with a slight chance for snow and rain showers in the afternoon. Lows in the teens to 20’s and highs in the mid to upper 40’s. SW winds 10-15 with gusts to 25mph.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy with a chance for snow showers. Lows in the teens to 20’s and highs in the mid to upper 30’s. SW winds 15-20 with gusts to 30mph.
First guess on snow totals from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning of next week: 2-4 inches valley and 4-8 inches for the mountains.
Check out my Pagosa Peak Cam (myearthcam.com) for watching hikers, bikers and of course, the weather.
-Mark Langford
