National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

From Inches to Feet...More Snow for Southeast Colorado

January 29-31, 2005

An upper level system tracked just south of the Colorado border over the weekend, bringing moist southeasterly flow into the eastern mountains and adjacent plains. The combination of moisture and cold air brought heavy snowfall to western portions of El Paso County southward to the Colorado New Mexico border. Spotters in the Wet Mountains in the cities of Rye, Beulah, San Isabel and Colorado City had to double up on the rulers, as snow was measured in feet. Several inches were reported on southward along the Interstate 25 corridor, including Walsenburg and Trinidad, with Cuchara also coming in big with 49 inches.

As the storm moved slowly eastward, it brought several inches of snow to the plains along the southern Colorado border in Baca and Las Animas counties, bringing much needed moisture to the area.

The snow had a high liquid water content, producing a heavy wet snow. Ratios were about 10 to 1 across the plains, which means for every inch of water there is about 10 inches of snow. This makes hard work for snowplows and people shoveling driveways, as the weight of the snow is increased by its high water content.

If you have photos of the event that you would be willing to have published on the website, please send them to the email listed in the bottom left hand menu, with the subject "January Snowstorm". Please note that images on the NWS Pueblo website are considered public domain, for anyone to use.

(Above photos courtesy M. Fickes)

Some Additional Photos...

A few totals from the event:

A big thanks once again to all our spotters and their reports, and a thanks to the public for their photos of the event!