Arleen & Shawn at Pagosa Springs ’24 Earth Day. We had a great day meeting folks. Thanks to everyone who stopped by & said “Hello”. Oh, and the weather was beautiful!
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 April! Special waves of thanks to: Steve & Carole Scott, Howard Strahlendorf, Linda Espinoza & Jim Laffey, John Maloney, Matthew Janney, Patrice Spindler, and Kevin Ridley.
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!
- The Terry’s Ace Home Supply committed to another year as a Snowman level sponsor! We extend our immense gratitude to Grace and her team at Terry’s Ace Home Supply for their support! We’ll be visiting their nursery and getting supplies for a few landscaping projects there soon.
- 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 now is the time to get your bikes tuned up at either their downtown or uptown location. We’ll be going out with them soon on one of their group rides!
- And Tommy’s personal physician, Dr Thompson, with Elk Park Animal Hospital is once again a Snowball Sponsor for the summer. Our wholehearted thanks to Dr Thompson, Natasha, Tanya and the rest of the staff at Elk Park.
Click on the sponsor’s logo to follow to their website.
Blizzard Level Sponsor
Snowman Level Sponsors
Snowball Level Sponsors
Storm Sponsor
Community Outreach
Monsoon Weather Talk, Thursday, May 23rd, 6:00pm-7:15pm
Part of the Lifelong Learning Program at the Ruby Sisson Library.
Join Arleen and Shawn as they talk about Monsoon Season in the southern San Juan Mountains. Arleen will explain exactly how and when the monsoon sets up in our area. In addition, she will go over the evidence that indicates whether we are going to have a weak, average, or strong monsoon season.
Last year was an abysmal monsoon. We only had 2.68″ precip total for July, August, and September, one of the lowest monsoons in recent years. Note, in 2018, we only had 2.56″.
As always, we’ll have time to answer any of your weather questions. See you on Thursday, May23rd!
Earth Day ’24
Thanks to everyone who came out and met the Pagosa Weather Team on Earth Day. Arleen and Shawn were there along with Pagosa Weather board member, Udgar. Udgar had a busy day helping us and the folks down at the geothermal greenhouses. Plus, Shawn brought Mater from the Humane Society to join us.
We were making clouds in a bottle for the kids (and adults).
We also talked to a number of folks about CoCoRaHS. We hope to have a few new reporting stations soon!
We’ll have another booth set up for Chili Cha Cha.
San Juan National Forest Service, Columbine Fire District
The National Forest (USFS) folks are already thinking about fire season. The fire behavior triangle is made up of fuel, topography and WEATHER!
We have been working with Clayton Rizz, a USFS Columbine District Fuels Crew Captain, since last summer. This month, he invited us to come visit them during a prescription burn. We saw first hand the time and effort they put into making sure that the conditions are good. They have a very complex matrix that they follow for weather. They want some wind to vent the fire but not too much.
On the day that Arleen visited, the conditions were optimal. They started ignition around nine in the morning and completed their objective by two in the afternoon. Incident Meteorologist (IMET), Jeff Colton, was also on hand to help analyze the forecast. Jeff, from the Grand Junction National Weather Service Office, and Arleen had a great weather geek conversation throughout the morning while monitoring the prescription burn operations.
We appreciate the incredible work and the service that these fire crews provide. It is gratifying to play a small role in helping the USFS crews keep the rest of us safe!
We’ll return a few more times to the Columbine District for weather training with the regular fire crews and the fire crew trainees.
If any teachers or organization would like us to visit for a presentation, send an email to Arleen at pagosaweather@gmail.com.
Pagosa Weather Calendar
- May 3rd: San Juan NFS Fire Crew training, Bayfield.
- May 23, 2024, Thursday, 6pm: Monsoon ’24 Outlook, Ruby Sisson Library. OPEN to the PUBLIC
- June 5th: San Juan NFS Fire Crew training, Bayfield.
- July 4th, 2024, Thursday, Parade – Look for the Pagosa Weather team & get a Snowflake!
- 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.
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 May 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.
Shawn’s April 2024 summary will be out in the next few days. He’s waiting on more DATA!
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
| 2024 Monsoon Rainfall | May 15, 2024 | The Springs Resort |
Closed Contest:
Forecast the Total Seasonal Snowfall for Wolf Creek Ski Area on their final day of operation.
Danette Vigil had the closest guess for the Total Seasonal Snowfall for Wolf Creek Ski Area on their final day of operation and won a $50 gift certificate for SKI & BOW RACK!!!
Runner Ups! And winners of the Ski & Bow Rack HATS for the next closest guesses were Lorren Dawes, Vicki Jones, Brad Kinser, Donna Simonne, Lady Amber Rhea Vasquez-Schrage! Thanks to everyone who participated.
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!
Active Contest: When will Pagosa Airfield hit 75oF! Note: This contest is closed to any new guesses.
Forecast the date and the time that the Pagosa Airfield hits 75 degrees Fahrenheit this year. The airfield has seen a high of 72 so far his year on April 23rd.
The person with the closest guess will win a $25 gift certificate for Pagosa Mountain Sports, one of our Snowball sponsors, a perfect partnership between weather & folks playing outside!
Huge thanks to Amanda, Coquette, Janine, Jake and the rest of the team at Pagosa Mountain Sports for sponsoring this contest and their support of Pagosa Weather.
Eileen Martin 5/1/2024 12:00pm
Joni Croce Bussoli 5/1/2024 2:00pm
Patti Spindler 5/1/2024 2:00pm
Carol Nailor 5/2/2024 2:15pm
Kacey Lee 5/2/2024 3:20pm
robert bency 5/2/2024 1:45pm
Laura Jones 5/3/2024 3:00pm
Michelle Carpenter 5/4/2024 2:16pm
Ken Daniell 5/4/2024 2:45pm
Amy Rivera 5/4/2024 3:00pm
Annie Stone 5/5/2024 4:20pm
Falisha Cozette Plake 5/5/2024 1:30pm
Phil Slusher 5/5/2024 2:32pm
Meg Wempe 5/6/2024 2:34pm
Bill Milner 5/8/2024 3:33pm
Irene Hamburg Mueller 5/8/2024 2:00pm
Jana Hoyer 5/8/2024 3:30pm
Lisa Vail 5/8/2024 3:00pm
Karisa Bruin 5/9/2024 2:56pm
Joanne Shelton 5/10/2024 2:00pm
Stacey 5/10/2024 3:10pm
Angel Thrasher 5/11/2024 2:00pm
Carol Ann Peterson 5/11/2024 4:00pm
Bryan Weitzel 5/12/2024 2:48pm
Patty Sanner 5/12/2024 4:00pm
Kathleen Porter 5/13/2024 1:30pm
Rob Barlow 5/13/2024 2:37pm
Jackie Kleckner 5/15/2024 2:00pm
Kristie Bixler 5/15/2024 3:15pm
Lisa Baker 5/15/2024 3:30pm
Marie Lattin 5/15/2024 2:30pm
Jon Hopkins 5/16/2024 3:00pm
Kirsten Derr 5/17/2024 3:52pm
Cherese Bergman 5/18/2024 2:10pm
Kimberly Jean White 5/18/2024 4:44pm
Lisa Wilson Seider 5/18/2024 4:00pm
Travis Phillips 5/18/2024 2:45pm
Troy Rettig 5/18/2024 2:30pm
Denise Fisk 5/19/2024 2:00pm
Sandy Freeman 5/19/2024 2:45pm
Janet Tjelmeland 5/20/2024 3:00pm
Michele Berndt 5/20/2024 2:00pm
Shelby Mael 5/20/2024 1:45pm
suzanne coe 5/20/2024 2:15pm
Joan Scott 5/21/2024 2:15pm
Lauri Stumph 5/21/2024 3:28pm
Gina 5/22/2024 2:22pm
Lisa Piatanesi 5/22/2024 3:00pm
erin tuatagaloa 5/24/2024 3:24pm
Julie Pederson 5/24/2024 2:00pm
Terri Theisen 5/25/2024 1:30pm
Diane Horton 5/27/2024 3:03pm
Debbie Fultz 5/28/2024 2:00pm
Jeannette Klinkenborg 5/28/2024 3:30pm
Betsy Cotton 5/29/2024 2:58pm
Musetta Wollenweber 5/30/2024 3:00pm
Gina Leach 5/31/2024 2:00pm
Maureen Collins 6/1/2024 4:00pm
Terry Arrington 6/1/2024 2:00pm
Ed 6/2/2024 1:55pm
Gina Doherty 6/2/2024 4:10pm
Mauri Bishop 6/2/2024 2:40pm
Rob Page 6/2/2024 3:00pm
Kim Rausch Page 6/3/2024 2:35pm
Joni Martin Shirk 6/5/2024 2:00pm
Russ Swall 6/5/2024 2:00pm
Kenny Rogers 6/8/2024 3:45pm
Jeff Witten 6/12/2024 4:05pm
Katherine Yoklavich 6/22/2024 3:01pm
