Board member Connie, Arleen & Shawn & foster pup, Uno. Uno is available for adoption at the Humane Society. Photo credit to Jeff Laydon, Pagosa Photography (Click on title of post to see image)
Friday – 4 October 2024 – 6:00pm
Included in this newsletter: Big Thank You Waves to Individual Donors & Our Sponsors; Community Outreach News; Calendar of events, CoCoRaHS and Contest Updates…
Personal Donations
Huge waves of thanks to folks who made donations in September! Special waves of thanks to: Guiseppe Margiotta, Karen Brownlee, and Howard & Jean Strahlendorf.
What your generous donation goes towards…
Your donations help us take care of our website manager, Fluid Elements, the Pagosa Weather website, commercial 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 send a Check to: Pagosa Weather, 135-F Country Center Dr. #142, Pagosa Springs CO 81147. 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!!!
Scroll down to see NEWS on Community Outreach, Calendar of Events, CoCoRaHS and Contest Updates.
Sponsors
We LOVE our Sponsors! They just amaze us with their support!
We welcome back San Juan Sled dogs as our winter sponsor! Huge thanks to Morgan, Christina, Peter, and Chris for their support. Now, we need to make some snow for them.
Pagosa Mountain Sports committed to another six months as a Snowball level sponsor! Huge thanks to Amanda, Coquette, Janine, Jake and the rest of the team at Pagosa Mountain Sports. Remember, they are a winter sport shop, too, with Cross Country Skis, Snowshoes, and Snow Tubes!
Click on the sponsor’s logo to follow to their website.
Blizzard Level Sponsor
Snowman Level Sponsors
Snowball Level Sponsors
Storm Sponsor
Community Outreach
Durango Radar UPDATE
The Durango Doppler radar at the LaPlata County Airport went online in August. LaPlata Public & Governmental Affairs Manager released the following statement, “Things are just taking much longer than we anticipated and there have been a few setbacks at the end of construction. We’re (still) close to having an app and web plugin but we don’t have a date as to when that will be. I’m sorry it’s taking so long and we don’t have a more accurate estimate, but it’s been a battle and continues to be so.”
As of the 3rd of October, the data is still not available through the NOAA radar page, MRMS.
As soon as we have definitive information, we will update you.
The Volume Coverage Pattern for the .5 degree radar beam. Green and blue are excellent coverage. Yellows are decent coverage. Reds are poor coverage. Pagosa Springs will be under decent coverage certainly better than what we have had. Wolf Creek will be under excellent coverage.
Colorfest
Colorfest Weekend was brought to you by the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce for the weekend of September 20-22, 2024.
Arleen and Shawn were up bright and early to brief 29 balloon pilots. The mass ascensions on Saturday were from downtown Pagosa Springs. As expected the winds were a bit of an issue at first, with a stiff northerly drainage wind causing issues. However, the wind let up as the sun rose, warmed things up and the wind subsided. Rocky Mountain balloon pilots Austin and Sean led the way, traveled south down the valley, rose to a higher elevation, which put them under a southerly wind which brought them back to the northwest riding a breeze to uptown.
Unfortunately, we had an area of low pressure move through the area Saturday evening which cancelled the night glow. The thunderstorms left 1/4″ to 1/2″ of rain across the entire Archuleta area.
Sunday morning was cloudy but they were high enough clouds to not impede the balloons. There were areas of fog so the balloons delayed take off to allow it to burn off. Then, all the balloons were able to launch uptown making a for perfect pictures against the mountains.
Arleen briefing the 39 balloon pilots and crews on Saturday morning downtown under the big top.
Mountain Chili Cha Cha
The 18th Annual Mountain Chile Cha Cha was Saturday, September 28th, downtown. The highlight was the Patty Aragon Green Chile Classic cook-off. In addition, there was a Mexican Beer Garden, margarita contest and tasting, and live music provided by Sangre Joven and Str8 Shot!
And the Pagosa Weather booth. Thanks to everyone who came out to say hello to the Pagosa Weather team! Arleen and Shawn were there along with board members Connie, Udgar, and Debbie.
We talked to a few new CoCoRaHS observers. Sharon will be reporting from south on 84. Ricky will be sending reports from way up on the upper Blanco. Ricky’s reports will fill a hole we’ve been trying to get data from for eight years!
We talked to the supervisor of Wolf Creek Ski Patrol and one of the pilots from the San Juan Squadron. We set up future briefs with both of these groups. And we met and spoke with folks that are already followers and others that will be new followers.
Arleen & Shawn & foster pup, Uno. Uno is available for adoption at the Humane Society
Festival of Trees
Ross Aragon Community Center presents the “Festival of Trees” in which 20 nonprofit organizations decorate trees and compete for the most votes.
Public viewing and voting will be on Thursday, December 5th from noon-6pm at the Ross Aragon Community Center. The community can come and look at the 20 beautifully decorated Christmas trees. You can vote on your favorite tree for $1.00. This is a free event for anyone to enjoy Christmas music, hot cocoa, cookies, and coffee. Santa will also be making an appearance from 3pm-6pm for pictures.
The tree auction will be on Friday, December 6th, doors opening at 5:30pm.
The Pagosa Weather Team is seeking creative volunteers to help us decorate a tree for the Festival of Trees. We will decorate on Tuesday, December 3rd starting at 9am. The theme is snowmen and snow! Contact Arleen @ pagosaweather@gmail.com for more information.
If any teachers or organizations would like us to visit for a presentation, send an email to Arleen at pagosaweather@gmail.com.
Pagosa Weather Calendar
- October 10th, Thursday, 6pm: Winter ’24-’25 Outlook, Ruby Sisson Library. OPEN to the PUBLIC
- October, Pagosa Peak Open School Kindergarten; Weather class, lots of fun pictures in the next newsletter.
- October 26th; Halloween Hootenanny
- December 2nd-6th: Festival of Trees; Pagosa Weather will have a tree; see details above.
- December 13th, Friday, 7am: Wolf Creek Ski Patrol, Winter Brief
CoCoRaHS Newsletter Updates
Pagosa Weather is the Archuleta County “CoCoRaHS Coordinator” and “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador”.
Huge welcome to Ricky!!! Ricky will be sending reports from way up on the upper Blanco. That fills a hole we’ve been trying to fill for eight years!
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 four 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, and Pagosa Junction. 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 November 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.
Pagosa Weather AUGUST SUMMARY & September Outlook
Shawn’s September 2024 summary is a fun one! Link to September summary & October Outlook
Contest Updates
Special Thanks to our sponsor businesses that have stepped forward to sponsor our weather contests. They are a lot of fun!
Upcoming Contests
| 2 Feet of SNOW | Oct 15, 2024 | Alley House |
| ’24-’25 Wolf Creek Snow | Nov 21, 2024 | Ski &Bow Rack |
Past Contest: The ’24 Monsoon Weather Contest Winner is Caryl Helsel!
She won The Springs Resort luxurious VIP package which includes (2) VIP Day Passes, (2) of their signature Wellness Tonics to enjoy poolside, and a 30-minute Therabody Rapid Recovery Session for two!
The Springs Resort is also Pagosa Weather’s Storm Sponsor and are there with us through blizzards and significant monsoon storms. We are deeply grateful for their support!
Caryl had a guess of 8.22″ for the amount of rain we would have in July, August, and September. We ended up with 8.20″, 1.95″ more than the average of 6.25″. But still not as much as the summer of ’22 when we had 9.53″. This year’s total doesn’t count the moisture we had in June from TS Alberto. Mark in the Reserve recorded 9.97″ for the monsoon season!!!
Active Contest – First Inch of Snow winter 2023/2024
The following list of folks forecasted when the first 1” inch of snow that falls and sticks to the ground. The person with the closest guess will win a $50 gift certificate to Terry’s Ace Hardware, one of our Snowman sponsors. Note: This contest is closed to any new guesses.
The Pagosa Weather Team will determine and verify the 1st inch of snow. The two verification snowboards are northwest of Pagosa, one 6 miles northwest and the other 7 miles northwest. A winner will be declared when one of those two snowboards has an inch of snow.
Huge thanks to Grace and the rest of her team for their support and for sponsoring this contest.
Good Luck to everyone!
Lisa Collins Troy 10/5/2024 4:00pm
Breanna Pitcher 10/5/2024 4:00am
Heather Dawn 10/6/2024 11:30pm
Dave Stimpson 10/7/2024 7:00am
Deb Roberts 10/9/2024 5:00am
John Farley 10/9/2024 9:00am
Vicky Heid 10/10/2024 8:00am
Sheri Gibbs 10/10/2024 2:00am
Paula Byra 10/12/2024 4:00am
Rachel Factor 10/13/2024 1:00??
Al Pfister 10/14/2024 2:00am
Robin Davis 10/14/2024 3:00am
Donna Simonne 10/15/2024 7:55pm
Lisa Gamber 10/16/2024 9:00am
Holly Baldwin 10/17/2024 3:00am
Carol Shelley Deatsch Blair 10/17/2024 5:00pm
Mike Offerman 10/17/2024 6:00am
Eric Lewis 10/18/2024 7:00am
Julie Pederson 10/18/2024 1:30am
Dayna Bennett 10/18/2024 5:00am
Warren Brown 10/18/2024 3:50pm
robert bency 10/19/2024 7:00am
Kenny Daniels 10/19/2024 6:00am
Tomi Bliss 10/19/2024 8:00am
Josh Smolenski 10/19/2024 4:49am
Michael Brecher 10/19/2024 5:45am
Amy Shepherd 10/20/2024 4:00pm
Rich McGuire 10/20/2024 8:30pm
Jeff+Witten 10/22/2024 8:00am
Aimee Fredrickson 10/23/2024 8:45am
Laura Jones 10/24/2024 7:30am
Val 10/24/2024 7:30am
Kris Bos 10/24/2024 5:00am
William Milligan 10/24/2024 6:00pm
Mary Stokes 10/24/2024 7:00pm
Troy Rettig 10/25/2024 4:00am
Jennifer Brown 10/25/2024 11:30pm
Lynne McCrudden 10/25/2024 8:00pm
Linda Grover 10/25/2024 10:25am
Michelle Juneau 10/26/2024 3:00am
Peter C. Hurley 10/26/2024 4:00pm
Cindi Galaty Galabota 10/26/2024 10:50am
Randy Green 10/27/2024 11:15pm
Luke Plumley 10/27/2024 6:00am
Vickie LeBlanc 10/27/2024 3:00am
Susan W Zoerb 10/27/2024 6:30pm
Jenny Lynn Heckmann 10/27/2024 9:05am
Lisa Thomas 10/28/2024 12:00am
Joan Scott 10/28/2024 7:00am
Robert George 10/28/2024 4:00am
Mackenzie Hageness 10/28/2024 2:00pm
Dale LeBlanc 10/28/2024 6:00am
Liz Murray 10/28/2024 9:00pm
Rick Moore 10/29/2024 7:50pm
Karla Robinson 10/29/2024 6:15am
Sandy Freeman 10/30/2024 7:00am
Scott McKenzie 10/30/2024 4:30pm
Kim MacGowan Offerman 10/30/2024 2:00am
Amanda Breman 10/30/2024 11:28pm
Adolfo Valenzuela Echavarria 10/30/2024 7:00am
Annie Stone 10/30/2024 4:20am
Kimberley Lynch 10/30/2024 10:15pm
Wayne Hooper 10/31/2024 11:00pm
Rick Holter 10/31/2024 8:00pm
Cathy DeCory 10/31/2024 10:00pm
Cheryl Lopez 10/31/2024 7:00pm
Tracy Fox Schenk 10/31/2024 7:00pm
Greg Pilgrim 10/31/2024 11:52pm
Chris Flihan 10/31/2024 9:09pm
Pam Eaton 10/31/2024 10:00pm
Debbie Moore 10/31/2024 6:30pm
Tony Aldwell 11/1/2024 5:00am
Marianne C 11/1/2024 4:00pm
Irene Hamburg Mueller 11/1/2024 8:00pm
Corrinne Elizabeth 11/1/2024 5:30am
Blair Valk 11/1/2024 11:11pm
Meg Wempe 11/1/2024 1:11am
Lisa Vail 11/2/2024 8:00am
Jo Ann Senzig 11/2/2024 10:18pm
Terri Lynn Grosh 11/2/2024 6:02am
Lesann Hollenbeck Young 11/2/2024 6:30am
Renee Demianew 11/3/2024 4:30am
Patti Brady 11/3/2024 12:00am
Aimee Rogacki 11/3/2024 2:45am
Linsey Holt 11/3/2024 2:00am
Kristie Bixler 11/4/2024 7:30pm
Trisha Leewitt 11/4/2024 8:40??
Patti Spindler 11/5/2024 5:28pm
Brenda Schneider 11/5/2024 2:00am
Pam Harms 11/5/2024 8:05am
Kim Bristow 11/5/2024 5:00am
Beth Wallis Terry 11/5/2024 9:00am
Kristi Nolan 11/5/2024 11:05am
Chellie Marie 11/5/2024 6:00am
Lexy Derr 11/7/2024 11:00pm
Jeanette Green 11/7/2024 1:00am
Susan Dussell 11/7/2024 7:00am
Charlotte Ballard 11/7/2024 4:15pm
Clayton J Rizzi 11/8/2024 7:00am
Musetta Wollenweber 11/8/2024 2:00am
Terry Arrington 11/8/2024 9:00pm
Nicky Schneider 11/8/2024 7:35pm
Kitty Neal 11/10/2024 7:37am
Lesha Peper Zander 11/10/2024 7:00am
Julie August 11/10/2024 5:00am
Richard Hash 11/10/2024 3:28am
Jana Hoyer 11/11/2024 6:00am
Susan Niemiec McAdams 11/11/2024 11:00am
Allison Damm 11/11/2024 11:11am
Franklin C Snyder 11/12/2024 6:00am
Cori Finch 11/12/2024 5:00am
Maggie Barilla Saunders 11/12/2024 6:58am
Chellie Panzera 11/13/2024 7:00pm
Will Ellis 11/13/2024 5:00am
Cherese Bergman 11/13/2024 9:00am
Richard Beaudry 11/14/2024 10:00am
Nancy Green 11/14/2024 6:00am
Lisa Glazener Doerr 11/14/2024 10:00pm
Kathy Embry 11/14/2024 2:00pm
Ron Perkins-Bogs 11/14/2024 8:00am
Kenny Rogers 11/15/2024 1:00pm
Alice Orient Keil 11/15/2024 7:00am
Kay Reed 11/15/2024 4:30am
Kimberly Hicks Laverty 11/15/2024 3:30am
Suanne Freitag McLellan 11/16/2024 7:00am
Martha Vitale Ball 11/16/2024 7:08am
Amy Dutton 11/17/2024 5:30am
Mark Langford 11/18/2024 6:00am
Kathleen Wells Steventon 11/18/2024 7:00am
Deborah HAYWARD 11/20/2024 6:00pm
Sandra Dillon 11/21/2024 11:00am
Venita Durrer 11/21/2024 8:15am
Bob Ashmore 11/22/2024 5:30am
Carolyn Wilson 11/23/2024 5:00am
Neil Umali 11/27/2024 5:00am
Kilina Martinez Garcia 11/27/2024 6:00am
Laurie O’Neil 11/28/2024 4:00pm
Kim Anita Moore 11/30/2024 5:00pm
Ed. H 12/3/2024 4:56pm
Shelley Shrader 12/6/2024 2:00pm
Janet Pentis 12/10/2024 5:00pm
Falisha Cozette Plake 12/13/2024 5:00am
Kacey Lee 12/17/2024 9:00pm
Pat Colby 12/20/2024 3:00pm
Lori Spencer 12/22/2024 5:10am
Kimberly Jean White 12/24/2024 4:45am
Bonnie J. Newman-Schilf 1/5/2025 1:00am
