SOUTHERN COLORADO — We are a little over halfway through another active weather year in Colorado, with extreme snow pack, a cool rainy spring, and a quick warm up this summer. Let's check in on how this year has been stacking up to average, temperature wise. In terms of monthly averages, high temperatures range from the low 40s to mid 80s in Colorado Springs. Pueblo trends about 5 to 10 degrees above Colorado Springs during any given month. The typical spread for Pueblo from the winter to the summer ranges from the upper 40s to mid 90s. July is normally the hottest month, and December/January are the coolest.
In the graph below, the dark green line represents Colorado Springs and the red line represents Pueblo, on a typical year. Light green shows the observed monthly average high in Colorado Springs for 2019. Pink represents the observed monthly average high temperature for Pueblo in 2019. This winter, January and February trended about 2-5 degrees above average. In March the trend went back to about 3 degrees below average for the Springs and Pueblo. Swinging back about 3 degrees above average in April. May brought cool air again and late season snow storms, with the monthly average high 5 degrees below normal for Colorado Springs and Pueblo. June started cooler than average, but was boosted to a normal average monthly high after a hot streak at the end of the month. Now bringing us to July so far, temperatures are about 1 degree above average for the Springs and Pueblo.
Talking about summer heat, let's dive into seasonal averages. In an average year, Colorado Springs reaches 90 degrees or higher a total of 18 days, based on our current 30 year climate period (1981-2010). So far, the Springs has seen 12 days at 90 or above. For Pueblo, we upped the ante to 100 degree days. In an average year, based on our current climate period again, Pueblo has 10 days at or above 100 degrees. At this time of this article, Pueblo has seen 4 days at or above 100 degrees.
This year has been fairly typical, with a few months above average and a few below. Unless we have a cool weather streak through the end of July or August, we will likely see an average or above average summer. More 90s and 100s are in the forecast in the next 4 days, which will add onto those hot day counters.
