National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

                      ...1998 IN ALAMOSA...

JAN..A WARM..DRY START TO THE YEAR WITH THE AVERAGE MONTHLY 
   TEMPERATURE ALMOST 1 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL.  SNOWFALL AND
   PRECIPITATION BOTH BELOW NORMAL. THE TRACE OF PRECIPITATION
   TIES WITH 1988 AND 1981 FOR DRIEST JANUARY.  TRACE OF SNOW
   TIES WITH 1981 AND 1935 FOR DRIEST JANUARY.
FEB..ANOTHER MONTH WITH AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE ABOVE
   NORMAL.  SNOWFALL ONLY TOTALLED 0.7 INCHES V/S NORMAL 4.6 INCHES.
   PRECIPITATION OF .03 INCHE TIES WITH 1970 AND 1933 FOR 3rd
   DRIEST FEBRUARY.
MAR..TEMPERATURES ABOUT NORMAL..PRECIPITATION JUST ABOVE NORMAL
   AND SNOWFALL ALMOST 2 INCHES UNDER NORMAL.
APR..MOISTURE AT LAST WITH 8.6 INCHES OF SNOW..NORMAL 4.0.
   TEMPERATURES AVERAGED ALL MOST 2 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL.
MAY..DRY WITH ONLY .01 OF PRECIPITATION (NORMAL .64) AND NO 
   SNOW (NORMAL 1.8 INCHES). TIES 1975 FOR 2nd DRIEST MAY.
JUN..COOL AND DRY THIS MONTH.  TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION
   BOTH BELOW NORMAL.
JUL..AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE 1 DEGRE ABOVE NORMAL AND 1.33
   INCHES OF PRECIPITATION--.33 ABOVE NORMAL.
AUG..CLOSE TO A NORMAL MONTH FOR THE REGION IN BOTH TEMPERATURE
   AND PRECIPITATION.
SEP..WARM WITH AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE 3 DEGREES ABOVE
   NORMAL AND NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION.
OCT..THE MONTHS TEMPERATURES AVERAGE BELOW NORMAL.  PRECIPITATION
   IS 1 INCH ABOVE NORMAL BUT SNOWFALL IS ONLY HALF OF NORMAL.
NOV..WARM AGAIN WITH TEMPERATURES THAT AVERAGE 4 DEGREES ABOVE
   NORMAL.  PRECIPITATION AND SNOWFALL BOTH BELOW NORMAL.
DEC..VERY WARM WITH AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE 6 DEGREES ABOVE
   NORMAL.  PRECIPITATION AND SNOWFALL BOTH WELL BELOW NORMAL.
   PRECIPITATION OF .01 INCH TIES 1957 AS 2ND DRIEST AND TRACE OF
   SNOW TIES 1996,1980 AND 1935 AS DRIEST DECEMBER.

                          ... 1998 STATISTICS ...

     AVG   AVG   MEAN  DEP. FM  PCPN   SNOW   HTG. DEG.  COOL DEG.
     HI    LOW         NORMAL                  DAYS       DAYS
JAN..32.8  -2.0  15.4  PLUS  0.7   T      T      1527         0
FEB..37.1  11.2  24.2  PLUS  1.8  .03    .7      1137         0
MAR..48.5  16.5  32.5  PLUS  0.2  .53   5.1       999         0
APR..55.5  23.5  39.5  MINUS 1.6  .67   8.6       795         0
MAY..71.4  30.5  51.0  PLUS  0.6  .01     0       431         0
JUN..77.8  38.6  58.2  MINUS 1.2  .27     0       212        14
JUL..81.8  49.6  65.7  PLUS  0.8 1.52     0         7        37
AUG..80.2  46.2  63.2  PLUS  0.8 1.03     0        58         9
SEP..76.6  39.1  57.9  PLUS  3.1  .86     0       208         0
OCT..59.6  26.1  42.8  MINUS 0.7 1.66   1.8       682         0
NOV..50.0  18.2  34.1  PLUS  4.2  .35   2.3       920         0
DEC..41.9   5.2  23.6  PLUS  6.1  .01     T

AVG. 59.4  25.2  42.3   TOTALS  6.93  18.5      6976        60

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE.. 92 ON JUNE 29th
LOWEST  TEMPERATURE..-15 ON JANUARY 8th

7  NEW RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
5  TIED RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
11 NEW RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES
1  TIED RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE

DAYS WITH MAXIMUM OF 90 OR ABOVE   2  NORMAL 1
DAYS WITH MAXIMUM OF 32 OR BELOW  23  NORMAL 36
DAYS WITH MINIMUM OF 32 OR BELOW 207  NORMAL 227
DAYS WITH MINIMUM OF  0 OR BELOW  28  NORMAL 50

PRECIPITATION  6.93 INCHES   NORMALL 7.57 INCHES
  MOST IN 24 HOURS  .78 INCH ON 25-26 OCTOBER
SNOW..18.5 INCHES     NORMAL 37.4 INCHES
  MOST IN 24 HOURS  5.0 INCHES 17-18 APRIL

AVERAGE WIND SPEED  7.4 MPH   NORMAL  6.7 MPH
   PEAK WIND GUST   SOUTH 62 MPH ON FEBRUARY 24th

HEATING DEGREE DAYS   6976   NORMAL  8749
COOLING DEGREE DAYS     60             62
 
HIGHEST PRESSURE   30.80 ON DECEMBER 13th
LOWEST  PRESSURE   29.28 ON FEBRUARY 28th

LAST  FREEZING DATE   JUNE 18th
FIRST FREEZING DATE   SEPTEMBER 22nd
NUMBER OF DAYS BETWEEN   96