Pagosa Weather Board members Kenny & Udgar + Arleen & Shawn at Earth Day (Jane not pictured) (Select title of post to see picture)
Wednesday – 6 May 2026 – 9:00am
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: HK Strahlendorf, MaryAnn Durham, Jim Laffey & Linda Espinosa, Sue Fischer, Keena & Todd Carstensen and John Porco who made a generous donations in April! Thank you!!!
What your generous donation goes towards…
Your donations help us pay for our website manager, Do Engelhardt at 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, Square with Visa or MasterCard, or DAF Direct.
Checks can be made out and mailed to: Pagosa Weather, 56 Talisman Dr Unit 3, PMB 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!
This Month’s Featured Sponsor: Terry’s Colorado Home Supply & Ace Hardware!!!
Master gardeners headed by Pagosa Weather’s own Jane Weitzel, will be at Terry’s Ace the day before Mother’s Day to help little ones to paint their own flower pots as gifts. That is Saturday May 9th, from 11am to 1pm.
We are always thankful to Grace and Terry’s Ace for being one of our Snowman Sponsors and all their support. Plus, their staff in every department is always very helpful.
For your yard, Ace has year-round Gardening supplies, seasonal outdoor Nursery, Grass, Garden and Flower seed, specialty potting Soils, seasonal Mulch, Soil, Rock, Sand, Landscape pavers, flagstone and fencing plus outdoor Grills and accessories. Now, is the time stock up for those yard projects!
2026 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!
It was a busy month! It was so wonderful to meet so many Pagosa Weather followers.
National Weather Service – Pueblo
Shawn and I visited the National Weather Service office in Pueblo. Wolf Creek Pass is in their area of responsibility. We were given a tour of the facility and listened in on a Meteorological discussion.
Our visit established rapport with their team and will make collaboration in the future easier.
Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA)
This was the second year that we were invited to brief at the CRIA initial training day. They welcomed us to their wonderful buffet lunch, as well. Shawn was very grateful for that.
CRIA promotes public education, interpretation, and stewardship of culture and history through guided tours and special events of the Chimney Rock National historic site.
Naturally, the “Rock” is a lightning rod. We briefed the volunteer corps on how thunderstorms form, the time of the day they will see them and how long the thunderstorms last. We also briefed them on how the monsoon forms. Most importantly, we reviewed lightning safety.
San Juan National Forest, Columbine District Fire Training
Shawn and I visited the Wild Land fire crews in Bayfield to help with refresher training. They consider weather the most important part of the training that they do in conjunction with fuels and topography training. Weather is the most dynamic element and subject to the quickest change. They are always so appreciative of our visits and the information that we share with them.
Shawn and I really value the important, difficult work the fire crews perform. Training the fire crews is a priority for the Pagosa Weather Team. We know the crews find the information helpful in their mission.
San Juan National Forest, Prescribed Burn
Shawn and I met with the National Weather Service Incident Meteorologist (IMET), Bruno, and San Juan National Forest, Pagosa District, Wildfire team the day before the Turkey Springs prescribed burn to discuss the weather.
The Pagosa District conducted a 1,365-acre burn on April 23rd. It was breezy but the wind helped to move the fire across the burn unit as well as push the smoke out.
Over 100 fire personnel from the Forest Service, including Hot Shot crews, the Pagosa Fire District, and the Sheriff’s Office were on the ground to execute, control, and monitor the burn. It was a perfect time to execute it with the forecast rain expected the weekend after.
The next day the crews moved west to the Bayfield to conduct a 254 acre prescribed burn in the Sauls Creek area of the San Juan National Forest. On Saturday, fire personnel burned a 60-acre section of the forest adjacent to the Deer Valley subdivision.
A main objective of the projects is to reduce wildfire risk to nearby homes and infrastructure by eliminating hazardous fuels in the forest. It is especially important this year.
Earth Day
The Southwest Organization for Sustainability Earth Day Celebration was Sunday, April 26th. It was a cloudy, windy, rainy day. The entire area received 1/4″ to a 1/2″ of rain. Sadly, the Earth Day celebration was moved inside to the PLPOA Club House.
The theme was “A World in a Teacup”. There was early morning yoga and a tea ceremony. We enjoyed the variety of wonderful, calming music throughout the day.
Shawn and I along with board members, Jane, Udgar and Kenny were there at the Pagosa Weather booth. It was wonderful to chat with so many of our followers and to meet some new folks and spread the word of our free weather service.
Hopefully, we can be outside next year.
Pagosa Peak Open School Third Grade
Shawn and I visited with 19 students in Miss Paola’s class. We talked to them about air masses, atmospheric layers, and climate patterns for snow formation and monsoon formation.
All the students were brilliant and asked a number of questions. The curiosity and knowledge for their age was amazing.
Coming in MAY!!! County Extension Fire Safety Brief – Saturday, May 9th at 9:00am.
Brought to you by the Archuleta County CSU Extension office and Public Health Department.
Pagosa Weather will present the weather and climate overview. We’ll have an information table so stop by and chat with us before or after the workshop. See the poster below for other topics that will be covered.
Pagosa Weather Calendar News
- May 5th, Tuesday: USFS Wild Fire Weather Refresher – Bayfield
- May 7th, Thursday: Rotary Club – open to Rotary members
- May 9th, Saturday, 9:00am-11:30am: County Extension Fire Safety Brief – Open to Public
- May 13th, Wednesday: Archuleta County MAC Brief
- May 26th, Tuesday: USFS Wild Fire Weather Refresher – Pagosa Springs
- June 12th & 13th. Pagosa Springs 17th Annual Car Show 2026. Friday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM & Saturday, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM. We’ll have a weather forecast out the week before.
- July 4th, 2026: America’s 250th birthday/Colorado’s 150th birthday Celebration, Yamaguchi Park. Pagosa Weather will have a booth with the story of weather history and will be passing out Pagosa Weather bike water bottles (filled with water).
- July 2nd – 5th: Park 2 Park Artisan & Food Market. We’ll have a weather forecast out the week before.
- August 6th, Thursday 5:30pm: Rotary Club – open to Rotary members
- August 15th: Grillin & Distillin. We’ll have a weather forecast out the week before.
- September 18th-20th: Colorfest! We’ll provide Aviation weather briefs and we’ll have a weather forecast out the week before.
- Pagosa Weather Winter Weather Wonder… Exact date in mid-November to be determined.
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
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 June 2026 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.
Pagosa Weather April SUMMARY & May Outlook News
Shawn’s April SUMMARY & my May Outlook: Follow Link
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 |
| Monsoon | May 15th | The Springs Resort |
Closed Contest – First 24″ of Snow Winter 2025/2026
Marcy Haggerty was the winner of a $100 gift certificate to Alley House Grill!
Sadly, for the second year in a row we did not get at least 24 inches of snow pack depth at the verification spot in O’Neal Park. The deepest the snow was 18″ on February 21st. Marcy Haggerty had a guess of February 22nd and was the winner of the a $100 gift certificate to Alley House Grille!
Huge “Thanks” to Joni, Martin, Jeffers, Alisa, and the entire team at Alley House Grille for their support and sponsoring this contest!
Digging into the numbers for peak snow pack… Last winter (24/25) we only had 12″ snowpack depth. Winter 23/24: 32″ on January 8th and February 9th. Winter 22/23: 50″ on March 22nd. Winter 21/22: 32″ on February 24th. Winter 20/21: 29″ on February 15th.
Wolf Creek Seasonal Snowfall Weather Contest 2025/2026!
Wolf Creek seasonal snowfall was 192 inches…
Abey Nelson was the winner of a $50 gift certificate from Ski & Bow Rack!
Mike Herdina, John Farley, Mike Buckingham, and Ed H also won Ski & Bow Rack hats for their next closest contest entries. Congratulations!
Wolf Creek Ski Area reported their final seasonal snowfall at only 192 inches…sadly, one of the lowest contest-entry numbers won this year. If only Wolf Creek had stayed open during all of April. They’ve had a few more decent storms. And we are hoping for way MORE snow next year!
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!
