A winter to remember (or forget?)

Welcome to our February thaw, which has brought us out of the icebox. This year was dramatic with temperatures soaring into the 40s on Sunday, Feb. 2 (49 degrees is the record, set in 1918). 

Old-timers know this is common, with the average February temperature sometimes doubling January’s average temperature. For example, in 2021 it went from 10.4 degrees to 18.9 degrees. However, the long-term average temperature change from January to February is only about 5-6 degrees. 

But beware, it can also get colder in February, as the groundhog tells us. In 2023, the average temperature dropped from 10 degrees to 6 degrees from January to February, and this month is just starting. At any rate it’s a welcome relief. Now let me remind you more about January 2025. 

Back in January, I heard a lot of whining and moaning about our weather: “Is this the worst cold spell ever?” And worse, some of this from old-timers who ought to know better. Come on, get a grip. This is what makes Gunnison famous (infamous?). The Denver TV weather forecasters love to point to their fancy maps and show how many degrees below zero we are compared to their balmy temperatures. 

I know, we haven’t had such a cold snap in quite a while, but have you forgotten the Januarys of 2013, and especially 2008 which were quite similar to this year? Let’s see how bad January really was. 

The official average January 2025 high temperature (Tmax) was 16.9 degrees compared to the long-term average of 25.8 degrees. The average low (Tmin) was 15.1 degrees below zero as opposed to the long-term average of 7.3 degrees below zero. The average temperature was 0.9 degrees compared to the long-term average of 9.3 degrees — all about 8-9 degrees colder than average. 

Worse, we had a string of 13 days in a row (not quite, there was a 16 below in there) of colder than 20 degrees below zero, and one morning of 31 below zero, for the coldest, hopefully, of the winter.  

Here in town, the West Ruby Avenue weather station showed an average temperature of 4.7 degrees, a Tmin of 8.7 below zero and a Tmax of 21 degrees — all of which are the normal variations from town to the official weather station west of town. Last, but not least, we still had about 11 inches of snow on the ground, left over from Thanksgiving. 

Since you’ve forgotten, here are some other Januarys: 

In January 2013, the average temperature was 1.4 degrees and we showed 15 days of 20 below zero or colder mostly in a consecutive string, and three days colder than 30 below. Tmax was 17.8 degrees, and Tmin was 15 degrees below zero, all quite similar to this year. There was also 5-6 inches of snow on the ground all month, so not much difference compared to this year. 

The winter of 2007-2008 was probably the toughest ever based on a combination of snow and cold. January had 18 days of 20 degrees below zero or greater, and five days of 30 below, including a 38 degrees below zero. The average temperature was 2.2 below zero and Tmin was 18 below. 

We had three days in a row when the temperature never got above zero all day and seven days total for the month (the record). We also set a record for total annual snowfall of 101 inches — 31.9 inches of snowfall for January. And to top it all off, we had over two feet of snow on the ground for most of the month. The snow and cold continued and we showed over 30 inches of snow on the ground for the entire month of February and continuing well into March. This was the fifth coldest month in history. The deer moved in that winter and became permanent residents. 

January 1984 is the third coldest month in history with an average temperature of  2.9 degrees below zero, and a Tmin of 17.1 below and a Tmax of 10.3 degrees. We had a string of nine consecutive days of 20-below zero, two days below zero all day and a low of 39 below. The 20 below temperatures continued well into February, with 18 inches of snow on the ground, which didn’t melt out on the valley floor until mid-May, the latest ever.  

January 1966 was the coldest month in Gunnison history with an average temperature of 3.6 below zero. The Tmin was 21.5 below, and the Tmax was 14.3 degrees.  We had 39 days in a row when Tmin was below zero starting in late December, and had 17 nights 20 degrees below zero or colder. The average temperature was 13.4 degrees colder than normal. We also had 10-12 inches of snow on the ground.  

 (Bruce Bartleson is a retired emeritus professor of geology at Western Colorado University. He spends most of his time now watching the weather.)