What's ahead in February after 'normal' January in Colorado Springs?

Annika Schmidt, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
·2 min read

Feb. 1—Despite closing out with a cold snap, January weather averaged normally for Colorado Springs, and similarly normal trends are expected into February. Both snow and warmer days are a possibility this month, with an hour of additional sunlight to look forward to by Feb. 28.

All around, January data reveals normal weather for the city, according to Mark Wankowski of the National Weather Service in Pueblo. "We had warm, we had cold and we had snow. A pretty normal month," he said.

January snow totals fell slightly above normal, with 5.3 inches of new snowfall recorded in Colorado Springs, 0.4 inches above the normal 4.9. Rainfall totals were 0.40 inches, 0.12 above normal. There was more precipitation last month than January 2022, when slightly below average levels kicked off a dry spring with virtually no rain in April and a long resulting fire season.

Early forecasts predicted higher than average temperatures for 2023's first month, but given the recent arctic front, temperatures for Colorado Springs fell just 0.1 degrees below normal with a monthly average of 37.1. "Our arctic snap here helped put us closer to normal," Wankowski said.

The lowest recorded temperature for the month was -2 degrees on Jan. 30, the lowest for January since 2017 when the Colorado Springs area reported a low of -7, according to the weather service. The lowest recorded high was also on Jan. 30, with a high of 8 degrees for the day.

Sign Up for Springs AM Update

Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country

Sign Up

View all of our newsletters.

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

View all of our newsletters.

The monthly high was recorded when temps hit 67 degrees on Jan. 14.

Wankowski said this normal trend is expected into February, with equal chances of higher- or lower-than-average temperatures, given the current state of flux. Weather is trending out of a La Niña pattern, a phase that generally brings cold air to the Colorado mountains and produces snowfall.

With possibly normal patterns expected for February, a temperature high of 45 degrees on Feb. 1 could rise to a high of 50 by the end of the month, with average normals climbing from 32 to 36, according to the weather service.

In past Februarys, Colorado Springs has totaled an average of 0.32 inches of precipitation and 4.6 inches of snow for the month.

The sun is expected to set at 5:51 p.m. by the end of the month, 31 minutes later than the current 5:20 p.m., according to sunrise and sunset information provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The sun is also expected to rise at 6:35 a.m. on Feb. 28, around 30 minutes earlier than today.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE GAZETTE