COLORADO SPRINGS — This probably isn't news to you, but April was a windy and dry mess. Much of Colorado, from Denver to Colorado Springs, experienced a snowless April with practically no rain.
What made things even more miserable was the near non-stop wind and fire danger. The Pueblo National Weather Service office issued 22 Red Flag Warnings through the month of April, 19 of which were consecutively issued!
Colorado Springs had a bit of a historic April, but not in the way we wanted. Climate measurements for Colorado Springs are located at the Airport METAR sensor, KCOS.
We tied a 58-year-old record for the lowest liquid precipitation (rain and melted snow) with 0.01".
A trace of snow was recorded on the 13th and the 24th, and while that isn't much, it still technically beats the driest April on record set back in 1964.
Pueblo did slightly better with a half-inch of rain through the month, most of which fell from a storm on the 3rd. A trace of snow was also recorded at Pueblo, so it did not tie the record lowest snow set back in 2006.
As dry as it was in the plains, we actually did quite well in the mountains and foothills.
Colorado Springs, Lamar, and Campo all received less than a tenth an inch of precipitation in April, but Leadville, Westcliffe, and Buena Vista all came much closer to average.
This is better news for wildfires in the summer as it means the forests had more snow and water through the month, meaning the trees will be healthier and more drought-resistant.
The wind was by far the most talked-about weather element through the month of April.
In Colorado Springs, we had an average wind gust of 43 mph over the whole month.
The windiest days were April 5th and 22nd, and the calmest days were the 8th, 24th, and 25th.
22 Red Flag Warning days were issued during this period and our grasses because extra dry for the wind helping to evaporate out any moisture they were holding from March.
Pueblo fared just about as well as Colorado Springs with the average wind gust right around 40 mph.
The windiest days in Pueblo were the 22nd, 27th, and 29th while the calmest days were the 4th, 8th, and 26th.
Despite getting slightly more rain than Colorado Springs, hot air and strong winds evaporated much of that moisture out of the grass, resulting in high fire danger for nearly every day of the month.
