February 2024 was wet, warm, and a bit of a weather roller coaster - with the warmest high in the Springs a comfortable 67 and a warm 72 in Pueblo...but the lowest low all the way down at 13 in the Springs and 11 in Pueblo. But, the thing you'll probably remember first is February 3rd.
Our first snowmaker of the month, was more of a rainmaker for Pueblo. In fact, as bands of heavy rain moved through, the airport set a one day precipitation record...not just for the day of February 3rd but for the entire month of February. In the Springs it wasn't quite as wet of a day, but the snow we saw certainly was dense and hard to shovel.
That massive total on the 3rd, ultimately led to February being the wettest on record for Pueblo - with nearly one and a half inches of liquid. Southern Colorado saw about 4.5 times the amount of precipitation it normally sees. In the Springs we also saw nearly a foot of snow. It took us until the 3rd weekend of the month to have a sunny and dry period. The first 7 Friday-Sunday periods of the year all had measurable rain or snow.
Despite all of those storms, it was generally a warm month. Highs ended up about 5 degrees above average in the Springs and 4 degrees above average in Pueblo.
As we look ahead to March - the first month of Meteorological Spring, average highs really start to climb the hill so to speak. That makes sense - this is also the month we gain daylight (and solar energy) the fastest. Each day for the entire month, we gain 2.5 minutes of daylight in southern Colorado. That translates to warmer highs of 54.9 degrees in the Springs and 60.6 in Pueblo.
But, it's also on average the snowiest month of the year in the Springs. Typically with the warmer temperatures in spring, which also applies to low temperatures, the snow we get is denser, wetter, and harder to shovel. The upshot is, it's better for making snowballs because wetter snow clumps together more easily.
So, that's what we have to look forward to. The Climate Prediction Center has southern Colorado in "equal chances" for above normal and below normal temperatures, but is predicting strongly above normal precipitation for the month. So, keep the rain and snow gear handy....
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