May of 2025 in Colorado was unusually active, wet, cool, and stormy. And that pattern is set to continue this June.
The month started wild out of the gate. Pikes Peak was clobbered by over four feet of snow early in the first week of the month. That snow melted fast, leading to high turbidity, or cloudy water, in Manitou Springs and prompting a water crisis.
Severe weather was another big story. Colorado saw eight tornadoes this May, including four EF-2 tornadoes producing considerable damage, three on May 18th, and one on May 23rd. This is twice the number of EF-2 or stronger tornadoes Colorado typically gets in a year.
Colorado Springs picked up about three and a third inches of rain. In the Steel City, a bit over two inches. An average May has about two inches of rain in the Springs and one and a half in Pueblo.
Statewide, the Front Range and southern mountains saw the greatest above-average rainfall. Those are the areas in blue on this map. This was largely driven by several atypical heavy rain events.
All the rain and clouds kept temperatures cool. The average high was about 68 degrees in Colorado Springs and a bit below 75 in Pueblo, about two and a half degrees below average in both cities.
The pattern starting June remains wet. The Climate Prediction Center outlook has better than average chances for above-average rainfall this month.
But temperatures may be slightly closer to average. Below-average temperatures are likely in the first half of the month, with warm temperatures in the second half.
The good news here is that May's above-average rainfall greatly lowers our fire danger potential. That will be useful as we heat up through this month.
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