2025-26 - The Year without a Winter in the West (until Winter was over anyway)

The winter was so lacking in Colorado and Nex Mexico in 2025-26 that I only got around to working on a Winter Weather Observation page for this winter on May 6, 2026 - about 6 weeks after calendar winter is over, and more than 2 months after climatological winter is over. Why so late? Well, partly because I have been busy. But more to the point, it was in large part because, until well over both calendar and climatological winter were over at least, 2025-26 was truly the year without a winter in the western United States. It was the warmest winter on record, or close to it, at numerous locations all over the West. It is not unusual for the Southwest to be unusually warm, but when that happens, the Northwest is usually cold and snowy. Or vice versa. But this year, it was exceptionally warm and dry throughout the western US. Basically from the High Plains to the Pacific Coast. And then to add insult to injury, the winter ended with a record heat wave in March. All over the Four Corners states (NM, AZ, UT, and CO) all-time monthly record highs were set for March. In many cases, on multiple days, breaking records that had been set a day or two before. A few examples from this record-shattering heat wave: which came on top of what was already the warmest climatological winter in many states in 131 years of record-keeping. In Albuquerque on March 21 (at the end of calenear winter), the high was 91 - not only breaking the standing record for March set the previous day, but also warmer than any temperature ever recorded there in April. And of course, the earliest 90+ reading on record. Where I live, in Pagosa Springs, CO, the official temperature is measured at between 7600 and 7700 feet above sea level. On Friday, March 22, the high was 79 - the third consecutive day that an all-time March record was set. The old record was 73. All-time March records have fell all over the west, including a national record for March of 110 in Martinez Lake, Arizona - which, according to a report I saw later on a Denver TV station, was broken the next day with reports of 112 at four locations in Arizona and California.

In my usual winter weather observation (and skiing) area of southen Colorado and northern New Mexico, it was no different. At Wolf Creek Ski Area, which proudly boasts "The Most Snow in Colorado," the season total at the end of the ski season was 192 inches, compared to its average snowfall during the ski season of 360 inches. But even that was enough to keep its title - it was nearly the only ski area anywhere in Colorado or New Mexico to get 100 percent of its runs open at any point in the season, and Wolf Creek was 100 percent open for most of the season. So they likely did fine financially, especially because people who normally would have skied other places came there. Every ski area in New Mexico and the great majority in Colorado had to close earlier than planned due to lack of snow, especially with the March heat wave. But even at Wolf Creek, the snow quality during much of the season was not up to uts usual standard. One upside - for the second consecutive year, I was a winner for scoring in the top 5 in Pagosa Weather's contest to guess the seasonal snowfall. My guess of 287 inches was the third closest to the actual total, but still 95 inches too high. I guess there was a lot of unwarranted optimism among this year's guessers! There was one good storm in February that brought feet of snow to Wolf Creek (usually there are several such storms), but since I was out of town until it was mostly over, I really was not able to observe it while it was in progress. Did get some good skiing just afterwards, though, before the weather rapidly turned back to unusually warm and dry.

So after all this, a pattern change that came in April, and lasted intermittently through the first week of May, was more than welcome. While it was for the most part too late to save one of the worst western ski seasons ever, it did provide some much-needed precipitation, though not enough to eliminate the drought throughout the West. And it did, finally, afford me the opportunity to see, photograph, and video some interesting winter weather in New Mexico and Colorado.

Storm Sequence 1, Colorado, April 3-11 - This sequence brought a series of storms to the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado from April 3 through April 11. These storms brought me both some good skiing at the end of the season (finally) and an opportunity to observe a little some thundersnow (although I did not get useful video). Did get some decent pictures on 3 different days, though. Reports and pictures here.

Storm Sequence 2, New Mexico, April 30-May 1 - Some much needed-moisture finally gets down into New Mexico, bringing convective snow showers, some quite heavy, to the mountains above Santa Fe. I went up into the mountains on both days to observe these storms and got some good pictures to document the storms. Missed any thundersnow, although probably not by much on May 1. There was also a transient supercell in the Rio Grande Valley just after sunset, which I tracked on radar but did not chase. Reports and pictures here.

Storm Sequence 3, Colorado, May 5-6 - A major snowstorm that affected much of Colorado brought heavy snow and thundersnow to the San Juans near Wolf Creek Pass and the Wolf Creek Ski Area. I was in the mountains both days, narrowly missing thundersnow the first day but getting some on video during a very heavy burst of snow on the second day. Reports with pictures and videos here.

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