Temperatures recorded in degrees Fahrenheit. Wind Speed recorded in MPH. Precipitation recorded in inches. Heating/Cooling degree base: 65.0°.

Crestone Weather Notes For 2015

On January 6, the temperature finally rose above the freezing mark. This marked the first time since December 21, 2014 that had happened, ending 364.5 straight hours (or 15.4 days) below freezing.

A record snowfall and precipitation was reached on January 31, when at the Crestone/Baca weather station, 4.0 inches of snow fell, breaking the old record snow amount for the date of 3.5 inches, set in 2002. The record precip amount to ever fall on the date was crushed, with the new record reached being .24 inches, the old mark of .16 inches was also set in 2002.

On February 7, the Crestone/Baca weather station set a new record high temperature for the date, at 53°. The old record high was 51°, set in 1996. Another record high temperature was set on February 19, at 53°. The old record high was 52°, set in 1986.

On February 22, a new record high snowfall for the date was set at 7.6", breaking the old record by quite a bit, which was 1.5", set in 2008. Also broken, by a large margin, was the total precip for the date, at .50", breaking the old mark of .06", set in 2013.

A record low high temperature was reach for the date on Feb 23 at the weather station, when it only made it to 20°. The old record low high was 29°, set in 1997. Then a few days later on February 26, another record low high temperature was set when the high was only 27°. The old record low high was 29°, set in 2013 and in earlier years.

On February 27, 3 more weather records were broken at the Crestone/Baca station. First, the high temp for the day was 25°, breaking the old mark for the lowest high temp for this date, which was 27°. We also set a new record with the 6.9" of snow that fell (old record was 2.6"), and finally, we saw a third record reached, for total precip, at 0.21" (old was 0.11"). Then for the third day in a row on the 28th, another record low high temperature was recorded when the afternoon's high only was 26°, breaking the old mark of 28°, set in 1998.

Record precipitation was set for the month of February this year at 1.15", breaking the old record of 1.10", set in 1997. This February was also the second snowiest ever, with 22.4" falling. The snowiest February on record is still 24.4", set in 2003. Interesting to note, that up until February 22, the month was on track to be the driest February ever, with only a trace of precip and 0.1" of snow recorded, then in the last week of the month, things changed big time, to say the least.

On March 2, rain and snow fell in the late afternoon. This was the first measurable rain of the year.

Snowpack for the 2014-15 season: Measurable snow was on the ground from December 12, 2014 until March 12, 2015; a trace or more of snow was on ground from November 12, 2014 until March 23, 2015.

The Crestone/Baca weather station set a new record high temperature on March 16 at 67°, breaking the old record of 66°, set in 2012.

March 18 was the first day of 2015 where the temperature didn't fall below freezing in a 24 hour period, and the first time since November 2, 2014, that this occurred.

On March 19, a new record for the date for precipitation and rainfall amounts was reached with .31" of rain recorded, breaking the old record of .17" of precip, set in 2010, and which fell as snow back then, not rain.

The first day with below 10% humidity came early this year, on March 29, with a reading of only 5%, with the next day also seeing low humidity with a value of 8%.

The 0.4" of snow that fell on March 1 was the only day of this usually very snowy month that saw any measurable snow fall at all. This made March 2015 the second least snowiest March ever. The record low snow for the month remains at 0.2", set in March of 1997.

On April 26, a new record for the date was set for precipitation, with .36" recorded, breaking the old record of .27", set in 2012. A record snowfall for the date was also tied, with 1.6" falling. This was first reached back in 1998. Plus for what it's worth, it has now snowed on April 26 for 5 years in a row and in 6 out of the last 7 years. Yet before 2009, it had snowed on this date only 4 other times, going back to 1982 when records were first set.

There were 8 days in April with humidity values under 10%, with a 5% reading on April 7 the lowest reading.

May saw several daily weather records broken for the month, and once the month was over, several monthly records were also broken. First, a few of the daily records...

On May 5, a record low high temperature for the date was tied when the high only reached 44°. The record was first set in 2001. Then another tied weather record for the date, this time for total precipitation, with 0.32 of an inch of rain and hail recorded. This record was first reached in 2013.... Three weather records were broken at the Crestone/Baca weather station on  May 9. First, a record snowfall occurred, with 15.9" falling, not only breaking the record snowfall for the date (which was 3.0", set in 2013), but this amount also broke the all time record for the entire month of May, which was 15.0", set in 2001. Another record broken on May 9, was for total precipitation, with 1.36", smashing the old record of 0.62 of an inch, set in 2013.

On May 16, 0.1" of snow fell, although not a record for the date, it will go down as the last measurable snow of the 2014-15 snow season, and brings the total snowfall for this May to 18.4", adding to the new record for the month that was set on May 10 after 2.4" fell on that day.

On May 19, a new record for total precipitation for the date was set with .89 of an inch recorded, breaking the old record of  0.44 of an inch, set in 2007.

On May 24,  a new record for the lowest high temperature for the date was set, when it only reached 51°, breaking the old mark of 57°, reached in 2010. Then on May 25, another record for the lowest high temperature for the date was set again at 56°, breaking the old record low high of 60 degrees, set in 2014.  Also, snow fell on this day, but with the temp above freezing, it didn't stick. However, this trace of snow recorded is a record for the date, as it had never snow on May 25 before. So now there are only 3 days left in May where no snow has ever fallen on, those being May 28, 30 and 31.

For the monthly records broken... Precipitation wise, May 2015 saw not only the wettest May ever on record, with 5.05 inches recorded, demolishing the old record of 2.18 inches, set in 1993, but it went down as the second wettest month ever on record for our area. The wettest month ever remains to be July of 1998, at 5.74 inches. This May only saw 5 days where there was no precip reported on, which is also a new record.

May 2015 also set an all time record for most snow to fall in the month of May, at 18.4 inches, breaking the old record of 15 inches, set in 2001. For the entire month, we saw 8 days where snow fell.

Also, this May went down as the coldest May ever on record, with an average temperature of 47.6°, breaking the old record of 48.4°, set in 1983. We also set a new record for the coldest average high temperature in the month, at 60.1° (old record was 62.2° in 1983). However, it wasn't really that cold at night, as the average low temperature of 35.1° wasn't anything too bad to handle, and just half a degree off of the normal low that we should see. Finally, the highest temperature for this May was only 75°(reached on May 31), which is the second lowest high temperature for the month, lowest remains 74°, in May of 1987. Yet with all of that cold weather, the last day for freezing temperature to occur for the spring/season, happened on May 20, the earliest that has happened since May of 2000.

On June 14, a new weather record was set when .71 of an inch of rain fell in just one hours' time, breaking the record for the date which was .22 of an inch, set in 1996.

Although June was wetter than normal, there were still some dry days, with the humidity values going below 10% on 6 days. including a low reading of 5% on June 4.

Temperatures in July, especially daytime highs, were on the cool side, and for only the second time in 15 years, and the first time since 2008, Crestone didn't see any 90 degree days in the month. 8 record low temperatures were set in July including on July 8, when 3 new records for cold temperatures were set. The first record was for the high temperature only reaching 62°, which easily beat the old low high of 71° (set in 2006). This 62 degree reading also tied for the lowest daily high ever seen in July, along with the same reading reached on the day before, and also reached on July 1 of 1995. The third record set on this day was for the average temperature, which was only 54.0°, breaking the old mark of 59.5°, also reached back in 2006.   

On August 15, the Crestone/Baca weather station broke the record for the highest temperature recorded for that date, at 89°. The old record was 88°, reached in 2002.

September 21 saw a record tied for the highest temperature recorded for the date, at 79°. This reading was first reached in 2010. September 2015 would turn out to be the third warmest September ever on record, with the average temperature for the month being 60.4 degrees.

October saw above normal temps and precipitation. There were 2 records high temperatures tied along with 2 new daily records set for precip. In this month we also saw the latest ever first freeze of the fall take place, when the first freeze of the fall didn't occur until October 24, the latest this has ever happen at the Crestone /Baca weather station, breaking the old record late date of October 9 (set in 1990) by 2 weeks and 2 days. Another record reached was consecutive days of not seeing freezing temperatures in our area. The last freeze was on May 20, 2015, making it 5 months and 4 days since the last freeze. The old record was 4 months, 27 days, set in 1992. 

On November 17, the Baca/Crestone weather station broke the record for daily precipitation and snowfall for the date when .33" precipitation and 5.4" of snow fell. The old records were .16" for precip, and 2.0" for snow, and were set in 1991.

For December, 2 record high temperatures were reached, first one on December 8, tied the record at 50°, first reached in 1993, and then a new record high was set on December 10 at 52°, breaking the old mark of 51° set in 1990.

On December 12, a new record for precipitation for the date was reached when .46" of melted down snow was recorded. This new record breaks the old mark of .31", which was set in 2001. However, the 5.1" of snow that also fell wasn't a record, the old record for snow on this date remains at 6.0". also reached in 2001.

The total of 17.21" of precipitation for 2015, is the fourth highest amount ever recorded in a year for the  Baca/Crestone area.