Pagosa Weather February ’24 Newsletter!

“All Things Weather” with CAIC at Ski & Bow Rack; Matt, Arleen, Shawn, Robert, Brittany & a little Skadi.

Included in this newsletter: Big Thank You Waves to Individual Donors & Our Sponsors; News on Community Outreach; Calendar of events, CoCoRaHS and Contest Updates…

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Personal Donations

So many of our wonderful followers got our year off to a very positive start! Special waves of thanks to: Eugene Roseth, Ernest OToole, Candace & Roy Jones, Howard K Strahlendorf, Marshall Clayshulte, Kyle Beasley, Catherine LaCrosse, Angie & Rich McGuire, Connie Mentemeier, Ed and Kristi, Andy Byra, Sandra & Darin Dillon, Sandra & Darin Dillon, Colette & Mikeal Maune, Jennifer Yurechko and Ruby Osberg!

What your generous donation goes towards…

Your donations help us take care of the website manager Fluid Elements, the website, weather subscriptions, and other business expenses.  Most importantly your donations ensure that we will be able to provide this free service for everyone for years to come. 

To make a donation, click on this link: How to Donate. You can donate by PayPal, Visa or MasterCard through Square, or by Check. Thank you so much for your generosity!

Shawn and I have been truly touched by the support our followers have shown for us! THANK YOU!!!

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Mark Langford

“It’s been a fun-filled four years since I joined Shawn and Arleen when they took over this Facebook page from Todd Cook in 2019… As the new year is unfolding, I’ve made a few changes in my life: one of them is retiring from this page. As much as I enjoy being a part of this weather community, the time it takes to prepare daily posts can be a challenge, especially when combined with hosting my long-established South-Central Texas Weather page, meeting family commitments, pursuing my life-long passion for photography, planning for more travel, and even writing some fiction. Shawn and Arleen hosted this page before I came onboard in 2019, and I’m certain they will maintain our high standards as the years go by… While working with them, my weather forecasting skills have greatly improved, and I cannot thank them enough!”

A HUGE thanks to Mark for helping Pagosa Weather for the last four years.  We’re going to miss you!

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2024 Pagosa Weather Board of Directors Annual Meeting

Arleen and Shawn remain committed to Pagosa Weather and to providing a free weather forecasting service. With Mark’s departure, Arleen will be taking a more active role in weather forecasting. As Director of the board, she has been busy behind the scenes with administration of the nonprofit organization: bookkeeping, sponsors, contests, CoCoRaHS coordinator, Weather Ready Nation ambassador for Archuleta County, publicity, website over-site, promotions, community outreach, and fund raising. Fortunately, we have a fantastic board of Directors ready and able to assist with a lot of those responsibilities.

Udgar Parsons, an inventor and entrepreneur, is our Vice President, our nonprofit advisor and will be taking over a lot of the CoCoRaHS responsibilities. Connie Hayes, a multi-qualified engineer and business owner, has always been our business advisor. As Treasurer of the board, she is able to take over some of the book keeping tasks. Deborah McLain, who has an extensive background in technology marketing and sales, is our Secretary and keeps meticulous records. She is also willing to help with a variety of tasks, from contests to publicity, to the website, to promotions, and fund raising. Debbie McAlister, is a renaissance woman with a background in public radio and farming. She is a long-term Pagosa resident and keeps us up on happenings in the area.

Huge thanks to these essential members of the Pagosa Weather Team!

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Scroll down to see NEWS on Presentations, Calendar of Events, CoCoRaHS and Contest Updates.

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Sponsors

We LOVE our Sponsors!  They just amaze us with their support!

Click on the sponsor’s logo to follow to their website.

Blizzard Level Sponsor

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Snowman Level Sponsors

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Snowball Level Sponsors

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Storm Sponsor

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Community Outreach

“All Things Weather” at Ski & Bow Rack

Speaking of our sponsors… We had a great “All things Weather” collaboration with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) at our Blizzard level sponsor, the Ski & Bow Rack. Huge thanks to Catherine for putting the event together and to Robert and Brittany for all their support of Pagosa Weather.

Arleen & Shawn discussed the best way for snow to happen in our mountains. They also discussed what makes quality snow. Featured speaker, Matt Huber from CAIC, covered a range of topics including back-country safety such as aspect, terrain impacts, how to get further avalanche training, what the training covers and a host of other topics. We had around 50 mountain folk show up that were engaged and made the evening with their great questions and discussion.

Finally, we all enjoyed free refreshments from Riff Raff!

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Going to the Dogs

San Juan Sled Dogs is a Pagosa Weather Snowball sponsor. Sundays is “Locals” day!

Arleen’s report: I had a dream come true as I was finally able to run a sled dog team. Thanks to our friends at San Juan Sled Dogs for making sure my friends, Ruby, Livia and I had a wonderful experience! I can see now how people get addicted to dog sledding. At first it is chaos, barking dogs, getting equipment in order, but then a quick, “Let’s GO” and they’re off! Then all is quiet and serene as you take in the stillness of the winter morning. For the dogs and I the weather was perfect! I’ll go again!

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Visit to Our Savior Lutheran School Kindergarten Class

Ms. Beaird, the kindergarten teacher at the Lutheran School was the first teacher in the area a few years ago to invite us into her classroom. She teaches her little scientists weather for 3 weeks so Arleen’s visit fit in nicely with her lesson plan.

There were 12 enthusiastic scientists with a lot of questions and stories to share! We made a cloud in a bottle, learned how pressure changes based on temperature, learned about wind with bubbles, and lightning with balloons. For the second time, we distributed cloud frames because it was a beautiful blue bird day without any clouds. The clouds and snow were supposed to come in the next day so I am sure they were able to look at a lot of clouds.

If any teachers would like us to visit your class, send an email to Arleen at pagosaweather@gmail.com

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Winterfest 2024!

Arleen was up bright and early to meet the balloonist pilots for their O-700 brief. We enjoy doing these briefs since it always transports us back to our Air Force days and aviation weather briefs. It was a chilly morning with only high cirrus clouds, light winds, and unrestricted visibilities. Perfect weather for the balloons to fly! Which was good since they had several flight concerns the next morning including low clouds, visibility, and snow and were not able to fly.

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Upper San Juan Search & Rescue

Brad Myers from Upper San Juan Search and Rescue met with Arleen and Shawn. Search and rescue is one of those things that you don’t think about… until you need them. Brad has taken on the role of publicity and education for the Search and Rescue team. We discussed ways in which we can help each other. They are a nonprofit organization that Pagosa Weather wants to help since a lot of their work is the result of inclement weather conditions. Expect to see articles from Brad on Pagosa Weather in the future.

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Radar Update

They broke ground on the LaPlata County weather radar this past week! It seems real now. It is expected to be online this year, maybe as early as this spring.

More information on the ground breaking can be found in the Durango Herald article: https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/la-plata-county-contractor-breaks-ground-on-weather-radar-tower/?fbclid=IwAR1pFDabryaEYrLwEo7WSkVlPqwrtXgVC_T6SSBhq-CMaKryVhxRdzD8FZ0

For more background information on the local area radar history read Arleen’s article from last month: https://pagosaweather.org/2024/01/09/we-want-our-weather-radar-update/

We’re hoping it is up and operational before monsoon season!

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Pagosa Weather Calendar

• May 23, 2024, Thursday, 6pm: Monsoon ’24 Outlook, Ruby Sisson Library.
• June 8th, 2024, Saturday, Blue Grass Festival, Pagosa Weather booth (tentative)
• July 4th, 2024, Thursday, Parade – Look for the Pagosa Weather team & get a lightning bolt
• September 20th-22nd, Colorfest, Brief balloonists
• September 28th, Saturday, Chili Cha Cha, Pagosa Weather Booth

Send an email to pagosaweather@gmail.com if your organization would like to hear a weather presentation.

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CoCoRaHS Newsletter Updates

Pagosa Weather is the Archuleta County “CoCoRaHS Coordinator” and “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador”.

Weather Data Lovers, CoCoRaHS has released CoCoRaHS Data Explorer, or “DEx” for short.  This tool provides countless new ways to visualize and analyze data.  Note: it is highly recommended to use larger screens when viewing the DEx.
Click here to go to the DEx Station Search page for data access to any station in the database. (open to the public)

HELP! Do you or do you have a friend that lives in one of the five areas highlighted below?

Archuleta County is well represented but we still have BIG data gaps. We really need a volunteer in Arboles, Dulce, west on Highway 160, Pagosa Junction, and the upper Blanco. Sign up by filling out this web page: https://www.cocorahs.org/application.aspx. Or send us a note and we can send you more detailed information.

Perhaps, our March Newsletter will show fewer red circles!

The red circles are areas we could use a CoCoRaHS observer. Let us know if you can give us 5 to 10 minutes every morning to measure precip and snow. CoCoRaHS provides all the training you need.

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Shawn’s January 2024 summary: https://pagosaweather.org/2024/02/03/pagosa-weather-january-summary-february-outlook-2/

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Contest Newsletter Updates

Special Thanks to our sponsor businesses that have stepped forward to sponsor our weather contests. They are a lot of fun!

2024 Weather Contests

1st 75 degrees of 2024	Mar 1, 2024	Pagosa Mountain Sports
2024 Monsoon Rainfall	May 15, 2024	The Springs Resort

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Closed Contest! When will we have TWO feet of SNOW in O’Neal Park? We measured 24″ at Noon on January 7th at the verification spot 7 miles northwest of Pagosa in O’Neal Park. The winner was Lisa Vail! She won a $100 gift certificate to Alley House, one of our Snowman sponsors!

Huge “Thanks” to Joni, Martin, Corey, Dana, Jim, and the entire team at Alley House for their support and sponsoring this contest! In addition, the Alley House is one of our Snowman sponsors.

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Active Contest:

Forecast the Total Seasonal Snowfall for Wolf Creek Ski Area on their final day of operation. (closed to new guesses)

The person with the closest guess will win a $50 gift certificate for SKI & BOW RACK!!! In addition, Ski & Bow Rack has offered HATS for the next closest guesses!

Huge thanks to Brittany & Robert and the rest of the team at Ski & Bow Rack for the support of our weather contests and for being our Blizzard level sponsor!

As of today, February 4th, 2024, Wolf Creek had measured 182” so far this winter. The ski resort average is 360”. Their final day of normal operation is expected to be in early April 2024.

Everyone is still in the running… Come on El’ Nino! Get to work!

Vicki Jones 320”

Danette Vigil 327”

Donna Simonne 328”

Lady Amber Rhea Vasquez-Schrage 333”

Brad Kinser 333

Lorren Dawes 336”

Amy Rivera 340

Dave Stimpson 345 inches

Amy Shepherd 345

Bill Anderson 345″

Jenny Lynn Heckmann · 346”

Connie McKeithen Prunty 350″

Dab Macke: 355

Marie Humenczuk 356”

Amy Wilk 358

Les Schwandt 359

Danielle Choate 361″

Troy Rettig says: 365”

Susanne Olson 365″

Randy Hays 365″

Patti Spindler says: 365″

Kirk Bliss 368″ Heather

Michelle 369″

Astrid Simund 369″

TomBon May 369

Antonio-Miranda Cabrera 371”

Sally Richmond 372”

Kimberly Hicks Laverty 375

Ed says: 376

Tammie Cypert Apodaca 376”

Musetta Wollenweber 376″

Mary Stokes 377″

Steve Voorhis says: 378”

Ron Bogs 378 inches

MJ Lore 378

Steve Earle 379 inches

Mauri Bishop 381″

Matt Ross 382”

Theresa Cordova-Trujillo 384.5 inches

Amanda Breman 386 inches

Deborah Henderson Stanislaus: 387 inches

Gina Leach 387”

Donna Muir 388”

Kelly H. Coleman 389″

Michelle Juneau says: 390″

Kris Hoff May 391”

Mark Apodaca 391”

Nestor Rivera 391″

Leo Milner 392″

Terri Lynn Grosh 392”

Debbi Plemons says: 393”

Shawndris Coy 393”

Joni Watkins 395”

Michael Barr 396

Jackie Cox says: 396”

Tammy Boen 397”

Tina Edwards says: 398”

Diana Kleckner Aragon 398

Aimee Fredrickson 398

Kari Burkett says: 399”

Jan Powers 399”

Robert Hagberg 399”

Erica Schuyler Hagopian 399″

Sharilyn Knox 399

Holly Baldwin says: 400 inches

Nancy Lynn Carey 400

Barbara Jetley 400

Jerry Williams 400”

Rob Barlow 401

Macee Burrow 401

Jode Fahrion Mckee 402”

Michelle Tressler Kolkau 402″

Simmie E. Rose 402″

Daniel Haskamp 402”

Jana Hoyer says: 403″

Madeline Arnold 403”

Linda Lutomski 404″

Joseph Yoklavich says: 404

Susan W Zoerb 406″

Pat Colby says: 407″

Michelle Carpenter 407

James D Tagliareni Jr. 409”

Barb Ferrell says: 409”

Crystal Dean 410

Cindi Galaty Galabota 411″

Larissa Terrell says: 411

Carol Ann Peterson 411

Sandy Williams 412”

Ben Bailey 413 inches.

Dana Clark 413″

Dee Halley 413”

Belinda Hewitt 413”

Cherese Bergman 413″

Bob Theodore says: 413”

Katelyn Duffy 415

Brittany Cone 417″

Shane Durham 418″

Murphy miller says: 418″

Dustan Mattingly 419

Lucinda Morris Tagliareni 420”

Ben Hicks 420

bob Michael Hughes 420”

Blair Jackson 420

David Wolff says: 420″

Toby Martinez 420″

Phil Slusher 421 inches

Kristin McCollam 421

Rachael Collins 421

Jeshua Thomas 421″

Jerry Jones 422”

Eric Porter 422 

Johnna Thompson 422 inches

Floyd Vail 422”

Gina says: 422 inches

Ilene Gauger 423”

Wendy Burton 423”

Missy Lee 424”

Renee Demianew 424”

Kimberly Jean White 424”

Kay Reed 425

Monica Alley 425

Nancy Green 426 inches

Laura Jones says: 427″

Charlie Tyrrell 427″

Judd Campbell 427

Kathleen Wells Steventon 428″

Shaylah Nicole Lucero 428 inches

Allyson Wilkins 428

Ken Daniell 431”

Ellen Clark Schmidt 432”

Ryan Mathis 432”

Joslynn Hatcher 432”

Adrienne Panter 432″

Kelley White Grose 432

Lauren Fredrickson 433”

Hannah Hemenger 433”

Meg Wempe 434″

Dean Lee 435″

Mike Cianciolo says: 438″

Jeff Bentley 438″

Robert George 438

Diane Steve Horton 439”

Annett Hitchell 439″

Roslyn Reese Earle 440

Brad Hall 441

Dena Laterza 441

Sasha King: 442

Katherine Yoklavich says: 444 inches

Chris Edwards 444 inches

Peggy Andrews 444″

Mike Flihan 444 inches

Suzanne Coe says: 445 inches

Nikki Adams Taylor 447”

Luke Skinner 447”

Donna Marsh 447

Jeff Witten says: 448”

Nicole Smith 448 inches

Tasha Kossler 450”

Rick Holter says: 451″

Ängel Ţhrasher Ẅeaver 452 inches

Katie Howell says: 452

Jeremy Brousseau 453 1/2”

Lynn Robinson says : 453”

Adam Hirshberg 455″

Chris Carpenter 456

Eric Kuhn says: 456”

Lisa Dess 457

Gina Boaz 458”

Theresa Dougherty-Suchanek 459″

Sierra Graham 462″

Cheryl Ward-Bowdridge 468”

Amber Demmert 469”

Koebel Gennan 469

Lisa Griffin Oney 470

Greg Williams 472″

Teri Soto Martinez 472

Jared Conway 473”

Tim says: 475”

Justin Treptow 475 inches

Aly Jones 476”

Jana Doucet 477”

Dolores Rode 477

Kermit Herman 478″

Casey PenguinPups: 478”

Tanner Holman 479”

Joni Croce Bussoli 481″

Audrey Bliss 481

Steve Blechschmidt 481

Alisha Wagner 482″

Casey Fisher 483in.

Carla Salter 484”

Julian Martinez 485″

John P: 486”

Anthony Aldwell says: 488”

Eileen Martin 488”

Annie Stone 488

Molly Sprowle 488″

Venita Durrer 489 inches

Al Wylie 489”

Kim Bristow 492”

Amber Roberts 492″

Valerie Lucas 492 ”

Aaron Anderson 495 inches

Kim Martinez 496”

Mackenzie Hageness 496″

Chellie Panzera 498”

Kristie Bixler 499” 

Vickie LeBlanc 500 inches

Eric Ziminsky 501”

Cia Leigh Adkisson 501

Denise Woods Santille 502″

Liz Herring-Tibbetts 502″

Carrie Thomas 502 inches

Neil Umali 502”

Suanne Freitag McLellan 502

Kathy Kulyk 505″

Stacey Fitzwater 506”

Mike Stang 507”

TJ Martinez 509

Bonnie J. Newman-Schilf 510”

Courtney Wieters 511″

Jasmin Trueba 512”

Lynn Bauman 512

Belen Quila Rutan 512”

Kenny Rogers says: 512″

Patty Sanner 515″

Nathanael Ward 515

Ana Appenzeller 515

Crystal Earley 520”

Lillian Byrne 521”

Lacy Capre 522”

Mary Tighe 525″

Kathy Morrone Wissing 527”

Jan Harms says: 528″

Karen Welch 528”

Corey Shult 529

Emily Green-Martinez 533

Sandra Meyn Thoma 540”

Jared Payne 559″

Michele Berndt 565

Mike Dingman 575″

Nikki Cyr 584″

Cheto Matthew Chavez 589”

Elijah Penguin Pups: 600”

Jarod Miller 605 inches

Meghan Hutcherson 678