Crestone Weather Notes For 2016

Two record low temperatures for the date were reached at the Baca/Crestone weather station on January 10 . First, a record low was set when the temp dropped to -8.5°, the old record was -7° set in 2011. Then the high for the day was only 13.6°, breaking the old record for lowest high for the date, which was 19°, and set just last year.

Another record low temperature was set on January 11, when the high was only 16°, breaking the old record for lowest high for the date, which was 20°, set in 2011.

The 5.1" of snow that fell on February 1  broke the old record for snow for this date of 2.1", set in 2014. Also broken was the daily record for melted precipitation, at .54", which demolished the old record which was only .10", and also set in 2014. The wettest  start of the month ever seen, but little did we know at the time, that there would be only  .21" more precipitation to fall for the rest of February.

2 new temperature records were set for February 4 at the Baca/Crestone Weather Station. First one occured at 6:20 am, when the low temperature dropped to -9.6° (which gets rounded off to -10° officially in our record books), and this reading breaks the old record low for the date, which was -8°, which was set in  2005. Then the high temp for the day was 15°, a record low high. The old mark was 19°, set back in 1985.

After the first week in February passed, winter temperatures pretty much ended for the most part for the rest of the month, with very much above normal temps on most days seen. We missed record highs for 3 days in a row by one degree from February 11 thru 13, and then broke record highs on February 18 (55.8°) and 19 (54°).

Temps in March were very much above normal, yet on only 2 days were any records broken, and those were for record low temps! March 26 saw 2 record lows set, first, the daily high only reached 27° (reached at 12:01 am, afternoon high was only 26°), breaking the old record low high of 38°, which was set in 2009. Then at 1258 am DST (officially Sunday morning, March 27, but weather records are kept on standard time year-round) a record low for the same date (March 26) was set at 9.7° (officially set at 1158pm MST Saturday), breaking the old record low reading of 11°, also set in 2009.

For March 27, another new record low temperature was set when the temp fell to 3° at 533am. This broke the old record low of 7°, which was set in 2009. Then the afternoon high was a record low high, at 35°, breaking the old record of 36°, also set in 2009.

A record low temperature for April 1 was tied when the temperature fell to 12°, tying the old record low reached in 2005, and first reached in 2000.

A record for the most precipitation to fall on April 19  was broken when .20" (of hail) fell in only 15 minutes. The old record was .19", set in 2013. The hail that fell in the storm was the only precip to fall for the entire day.

The first measuable rain of 2016 falls on April 11.

On April 16,  2 weather records were broken. First, the high temperature for the day was 34°, breaking the old record for the lowest high for the date, which was 38°, set in 1999. The high was reached at 102am, with temps mainly in the upper 20s most of the afternoon. Second, a record high for daily snowfall was also set when a total of 3.5" was recorded, breaking the old mark of 1.8 ", set in 1998.

On  April 18 , 2 more weather records were broken, and both were for precipitation. First, a record high for daily snowfall was set when 6.6" was recorded, breaking the old mark of 2.5", set in 1988. Then the liquid precipitation for the day was also a record high, at .61", breaking the old record of .43", set in 1990

A new precipitation record for April 28 was broken when .35" of both rain and snow fell. The old record was .25", set back in 2006.

Two new weather records were set on April 29. The first record was broken when the high temp for the date only reached 33°, and that was set at 102 AM MDT. The old record low high was 42°, set back in 1984. As it was, the afternoon daytime high only reach 31°. The second record reached was for total snowfall for the date, with 7.7" accumulating, breaking the old record of 6", also set in 1984.

On May 28, a new record snowfall for the date was set, when 1.5" fell, breaking the old record of a trace, set in 1996. This also marks the latest date where more than an inch of snow had fallen in our area in the spring, the old record was set when 8.5" fell on May 17, 1995. This is also the third latest date that measurable snow has fallen in the Crestone/Baca. There has only been 4 other times since records were first kept in 1982, when a trace or more of snow has fallen this late in the season, the later dates were June 13, 1985, one inch, June 2, 1999, 0.3 of an inch, June 7, 1995, a trace,  and in 2015 on May 29, when a trace of snow fell.

May saw 5 days when the humidity went below 10%, with the lowest reading on June 25, with a reading of 4%.

June saw 6 days with the humidity below 10%, with the lowest reading of 5% reached on 5 days each.

On June 13, a new record for precipitation was set when .11" of liquid precipitation fell in 10 minutes time in a rare, early morning thunderstorm that hit just after 9am MDT. The old record for the date was .07", set in 1983, when an inch of rare June snow fell.

After 2 days in a row of just missing out on setting new record high temperatures by one degree on each day, on June 21, a new record high was set with a reading of 92°. The old record was 90°, set in 2005. This was also the third day in a row with temps over 90 degrees, making for the first time in 3 years that more than one 90 degree day had occurred in one year, and the first time since June of 2012 that Crestone locals saw 3 days in a row of 90 degrees or more. Also broken on this same day, was the warmest average temperature for the date, at 75°, shattering the old record for the date of 70°, set just last year in '15. Then one last record broken was the low temperature, which never got below 58°, breaking the old record high low of 53°, set in 2012. This is the second day in a row this daily record was broken, since on June 20, the low of 57°, was also a record high low. Plus it was the third day in a row that the average temp for the day was broken, as a record high average temperature was set on on the 20th at 74°, and also set on June 19, at 73.5°.

The low temp of 59° on July 28 was a record high low for the date. The old mark was 58°, set in 1995

July saw 4 days with the humidity below 10%, with the lowest reading of 6% reached on July 14.

As of the end of July, Crestone/Baca has seen 7 days with temperatures of 90 degrees or higher this year, the most since 2012, when 10 such days were seen. 

On August 16,  dime size hail covered the ground in downtown Crestone around 3:30pm, with some hail reported as close as a block away from our weather center in Chalet 1 (Baca), but only rain fell at the station. On this same day, snow fell and covered the ground in our mountains above 11,000 feet.

August 17 saw more snow fall and cover the ground in our mountains above 12,000 feet for the second day in a row. Then more snow fell and covered the ground below the tree line in out mountains on August 20, and again on August 22 even more so, with 4 plus inches on Mount Adams and on the surrounding mountains to the north of Adams.

A new record low temperature reading for the date was recorded on September 24, at 26°. The old record was 28°, set in 2007.

On September 23, 2 records were set for the date. First, a record amount of precipitation of 0.31", breaking the old mark of 0.14", reached in 2005. Also set was the record for daily snowfall, with 0.7" falling, breaking the old record of a trace, set in 2009.

October 2016 saw 6 record high temperature records broken and ended up being the fifth warmest October ever on record, along with it being the second driest, and only the fourth time that zero snow was reported in the month, and the first October since the major drought year of 2001 that zero snowfall was recorded in the month. October also saw 4 days with humidity readings below 10%.

With rain falling on November 5, a string of 32 days with no measurable precipitation came to a end. 

Nothing too exciting to report for December other than one record high was set on the 15th, along with one day where  a record snowfall was reached at 6.7 inchers, on the 22nd.