Had a great visit with the San Juan National Forest Columbine District, Fire Management leadership in Bayfield. More pictures below… (select title of post to see picture)
Tuesday – 1 April 2025 – 8:00am
Included in this newsletter: Big Thank You Waves to Individual Donors & Our Sponsors; Community Outreach News; Calendar of events, New CoCoRaHS Observers and Contest Updates…
Personal Donations
Huge waves of thanks to folks who made donations in March! Special waves of thanks to: Barbara Pugh, Rick Holter, Melinda & Rob Barlow, Lisa Baker, Margaret Wempe, Jihn Watson, and Jennifer Marsh.
Also, a special wave of thanks to Todd Harmon. He bought TEN Pagosa Weather hats at the St Patrick’s Day Parade. He’s going to help promote us by handing the hats out to folks in the area.
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!!!
Sponsors
We LOVE our Sponsors! They just amaze us with their support!
A number of our sponsors renewed this month including Alley House, Terry’s Ace, Pagosa Mountain Sports, and Pagosa Wilderness. And joining us for the summer, again, is Dr. Thompson at Elk Park Veterinary.
Dr. Thompson, the Elk Park Animal Hospital Veterinarian, takes care of all critters big & small. Even pot bellied pigs!
2025 Sponsors! (Click on the sponsor’s name to follow link to their website.)
Blizzard Level Sponsor: Ski & Bow Rack
Snowman Level Sponsors
Terry’s Colorado Home Supply & Ace Hardware
Snowball Level Sponsors
Peggy Andrews, Independent Real Estate Broker
Dr. Leo Milner, D.C., Chiropractic Services
Pagosa Wilderness + Pagosa Rafting Outfitters + A1Taxi
Storm Sponsor: The Springs Resort
Community Outreach! March was another busy month! It was so good to see and meet so many of you out in the community!
Stevens Field New Automated Weather Observation System
Jace Johnson, who oversees airport operations at Stevens Field, contacted us at the beginning of March. Since then we have visited him twice at Stevens Field.
Jace contacted us to let us know that the airfield had upgraded their automated weather sensor (AWOS). The new-to-them AWOS system has several upgraded capabilities. The one we were most excited about is a Electrically Heated Rain & Snow Gauges tipping bucket! Steven field has not been able to measure precipitation for years. It also has a thunderstorm sensor and an ultrasonic wind sensor.
This ungraded AWOS, at an uncontrolled airfield, is very critical to aviation safety. There are a lot of folks at Stevens Field and in Archuleta County that are excited about the improved capabilities of the AWOS.
Follow this link to see the weather observations at Stevens Field: Stevens Field Weather Observations
St Patrick’s Day Parade!
This was our first year to participate in the world’s shortest but best St Patrick’s Day Parade at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. We had a great time and will be back again next year for the ’26 Parade.
We set up a booth by 10am in the 19 degree weather. We had blustery winds throughout the morning but everyone had a great time. We talked to a number of folks about the free weather forecasting service we provide. In addition, we talked to folks about doing presentations and safety briefs in the furture.
Visit with Rizz & Josh
San Juan National Forest, Columbine District, Fuels Crew Captains Rizz and Josh came to visit us at the beginning of the month. Arleen taught a lesson on long-range forecasting. We forgot to get a picture. But here is a picture of them the day before! Josh’s super power is Smokey Bear teaching, “Only you can prevent wildfires”.
San Juan National Forest, Columbine District, Fire Management leadership in Bayfield
Arleen and Shawn went to Bayfield to give a presentation to the Columbine District Fire Management leadership team. They talked about the reasons why it was such an abysmal winter, what we can expect through June, and what to expect for the monsoon season.
The group of about 20 fire professionals had a lot of great questions which led to further discussion.
Earth Day ’25 – April 19th
Come out and visit with the Pagosa Weather Team, Arleen, Shawn, and Udgar, on April 19th at the Earth Day Celebration from 10:00am to 2:00pm at the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership (GGP) site along the San Juan River.
This is a welcoming family friendly event, featuring an opening Earth Blessing and sound bath, community tea gathering, fun activities for all ages, Open Mic music and poetry slam, nature walks, tour of GGP Grow Domes, a food truck, and more. It is free to attend.
The Pagosa Weather Team will have a cloud demonstration and explain how clouds form.
Cloud Frames! Huge thanks to board members, Deborah and Jane, who helped Arleen build 130 cloud frames for the weather classes the Pagosa Weather team will be teaching over the next few months to an estimated 130 little scientists.
Pagosa Weather Calendar
- April 19th, Saturday, 10am-2pm: Earth Day
- April: Two days of Weather lessons at Pagosa Springs Elementary School – Kindergarten 72 scientists.
- April 26th, Saturday: Pagosa Weather outlook brief for Emergency Preparedness class.
- May 2nd, Chimney Rock Orientation Safety brief
- May ???, San Juan USFS, Pagosa District Fire Weather Training
- May 21st, Wednesday, 1:00pm – 2:00pm: Monsoon ’24 Outlook, Ruby Sisson Library – Open/Free to public
- July 8th, Tuesday: Chimney Rock Youth Workshop
- October ???: Snow measurement training for CoCoRaHS Observers
- November: Winter Outlook event
If any teachers or organizations would like a Pagosa Weather class or presentation, send an email to Arleen at pagosaweather@gmail.com.
CoCoRaHS Newsletter Updates
Huge welcome to new CoCoRaHS observers Dan and Doug!!! Dan is reporting from south of Klutter mountain on highway 84. Doug will be reporting from east Highway 160. Both of these areas are critical and are data sparse areas. Thank you Dan and Doug!
Pagosa Weather is the Archuleta County “CoCoRaHS Coordinator” and “Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador”.
HELP! Do you or do you have a friend that lives in one of the six areas highlighted below?
Archuleta County is well represented but we still have BIG data gaps. We really need a volunteer in southern Hinsdale County, west Highway 160, Arboles, Pagosa Junction, Dulce, and 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 May Newsletter will show fewer red circles!
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)
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.
Note: We have a part time observer in the Upper Blanco. We’re looking forward to Ricky returning for the summer & monsoon season! However, we’d really need a full time CoCoRaHS observer up that way.
Pagosa Weather January SUMMARY & February Outlook
Shawn’s March Summary with my April Outlook will be out in the next few days.
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
| Contest | Issue Date | Sponsor |
| 75 Degrees | Apr 3rd | Pagosa Mountain Sport |
| Monsoon | May 15th | The Springs Resort |
| 1st Inch of Snow | July 15th | Terry’s Ace |
| Two Feet Snow | Sep15th | Alley House |
| Wolf Creek Snow | Nov 15th | Ski &Bow Rack |
Active Contest – First 24″ of Snow Winter 2023/2024
Forecast the date and time we measure 24” of snow depth on the ground. The person with the closest guess will get a $100 gift certificate to Alley House! Note: This contest is closed to any new guesses.
The Pagosa Weather Team will determine and verify the 24 inches of snow. The verification area is located about 7 miles north of Pagosa in O’Neal Park just off of North Piedra, past the two cattle guards at 8,030 feet elevation. The deepest snow depth to date has been 12 inches on February 15th.
Huge “Thanks” to Joni, Martin, Corey, Dana, Jim, and the entire team at Alley House for their support and sponsoring this contest! Let’s have fun and support our local businesses!
Sadly, chances are getting very slim. We’ll see how April goes and then confer with the Pagosa Weather board top decide on a winner.
2/7/2025 6:00 Richard Hash
2/14/2025 10:00 Kayla Cornish
2/25/2025 16:00 Debra Wallen
3/10/2025 8:00 Christian Cornish
6/16/2025 6:30 Michael Bobbitt
Active Contest:
Forecast the Total Seasonal Snowfall for Wolf Creek Ski Area on their final day of operation. Note: this contest is 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, April 1st, 2025, Wolf Creek had measured 205” so far this winter. The ski resort average is 360”. Their final day of normal operation is expected to be April 6th, 2025.
Sadly, everyone is still in the running… Keep up your snow dances!!! We could get a bit more this week.
Abey Nelson 210
Mike Buckingham 240
Carol Holleran 257
John Farley 271
Greg Williams 278
Brady Turner 281
Kay Kaylor 291
Joanne Shelton 301
Derrall Smith 301
Lisa Baker 302.5
Jenny Yurechko 305
Martha Ball 308
Joan Scott 309
Liz Murray 312
Keith Jones 321
Jana Hoyer 322
Eric Fisk 323
Holly Baldwin 325
Jennie Leverett 333
Meg Wempe 333
mike offerman 340
Jesse Beach 342
Robert Bency 347
Tina Edwards 349
Al Pfister 372
Traci Landis 373
Lisa Vail 375
Donna Lewis 377
Bob Theodore 393
Jackie Cox 396
Larry Walton 399
Kitty Neal 401
Melanie Fortner 408
Peggy Andrews 411
Bryan Weitzel 411
Michele Berndt 415
Krisite Bixler 419
Nathanael Ward 422
Mark Langford 425
Kenny Rogers 429
Eric Bickel 433
Gene Geren 473
Mary Stokes 491
Douglas Fortner 506
– Arleen
