When does it start snowing in Colorado Springs? Well, for the 2009-2010 winter, we got our first snow today – September 21st. It seems pretty unlikely there will be any accumulation in the Springs, but it’s been flaking all morning, and the mountain towns like Woodland Park and Cripple Creek are definitely seeing some accumulation.
Time to start pulling out snow boots and winter hats!
Late summer is “monsoon season” for Colorado Springs. Afternoon thunderstorms roll over the mountains in all summer long, but they dump lots more rain and hail in August and September. Last night’s storm brought pea-sized hail to our neighborhood, and some areas reported up to ping-pong ball size. Our downspout was clogged with hail yesterday as the storm swept through.
August and September have the highest average rainfall – 7.12 and 7.33 cm respectively, compared to the next-high month of July at 6.08 cm. These showers rarely last long, maybe 30-45 minutes, and then the sky usually clears for a beautiful sunset. The rain cools the air and makes those Colorado Springs homes without AC pleasant even in late summer!
Ah, we’re in the dog-days of summer – which, after having been in the sweltering 100º heat and humidity in Kansas recently, doesn’t feel quite so bad. But, it still gets pretty warm in Colorado Springs, and we’ve hit 90º several times in the past few weeks.
People moving from other parts of the country may be surprised to learn that most homes in Colorado Springs don’t have air conditioners. When we first moved here, we bought our home in the winter, figuring that since almost no one has AC, it must not be necessary.
Well, call us wimps, but we think they’re a necessity – inside temperatures of 80+ degrees are just a bit too warm for us.
Amazingly enough, most of the people that I know that have air conditioners don’t use them much if at all. So, I thought I’d do a poll to see how people in Colorado Springs feel about air conditioning – surely someone out there thinks they’re as necessary as we do!
Loading ...Now, whether or not you need AC in Colorado Springs is going to vary widely by more than just preference – homes in northern El Paso County (such as Monument, Black Forest, etc) are much less likely to have or need AC.
The altitude keeps the temperatures lower than, say, areas near south Colorado Springs, like Fountain, where you’re more likely to find a higher percentage of homes with AC. And of course, if you have south facing windows with no shade, your house will heat up more than if your windows are north facing.
The great thing about Colorado Springs is that afternoon thunderstorms regularly roll in over the mountains, bringing a cool breeze and usually cools things off quite a bit, especially if you live west of I-25, where you’re more likely to receive more rain.
It also cools down quite a bit at night, so if you leave the windows open for awhile and use fans to circulate the air, you can usually cool your house down at night so it doesn’t get so hot during the day. Still, we are totally fans of air conditioning, even in a beautiful climate like Colorado Springs!
The snow is almost gone from Pikes Peak, so I thought I’d show it to you at various stages from the past couple of months. None of these are shining examples of amazing photography, but hopefully you get the idea!
March 14th – from the East Library parking lot
March 21st – from the top of the hill on Woodmen, just east of Union and west of Lexington
April 8th, 2009 – From somewhere (?) on Marksheffel Road south of Woodmen
April 13, 2009 – from the parking lot at the Discovery Canyon campus in Flying Horse (love fresh snow!)
May 6, 2009 – from the top of the hill on Woodmen, just east of Union and west of Lexington
May 18th, 2009 – from the parking lot at the Discovery Canyon campus in Flying Horse
May 27, 2009 – from the Hollywood Theatre parking lot at Interstate 25 and Interquest Parkway
June 16th, 2009 – from the parking lot at the Discovery Canyon campus in Flying Horse
June 24th, 2009 – from the master suite of our listing at 7612 Menagerie Lane in the Chaparral Point at Indigo Ranch neighborhood
June 29, 2009 – from the Discovery Canyon Campus in Flying Horse
It can snow on Pikes Peak all year long, but it does usually melt all the way during the summer. I found a chart of snow-free dates for Barr Trail, which kind of gives you an idea of when the mountain is usually snow-free. I don’t think the mountain is probably completely snow-free by the time Barr Trail is, but it’s probably pretty close.
If you’re new to Colorado Springs or are visiting with the though of relocating, you’ve probably been slightly bummed at the weather these past few days. It’s been cloudy and rainy for what seems like weeks – pretty unusual for Colorado Springs.
I tried to find out how many days of sunshine the Springs area gets, and found conflicting reports. The oft-touted “300 days of sunshine per year” is evidently false, but it’s more complicated than just counting “days of sunshine”. Because those thunderstorms tend to roll in over the mountains during the late afternoon, we end up with cloudy or partly-cloudy days even though the majority of the day is clear blue skies.
Either way, it’s felt a bit like Seattle lately, and it doesn’t appear to be looking much better (forecast from Intellicast):
Let’s just hope it’s clear enough for the Thunderbirds to perform the full show tomorrow!
Jeremy Isaac, Realtor
CDPE, SFR, QSCplatinum, LHPcertified
Carrie Isaac
Internet Marketing Assistant
