Wild Weather made headlines in 2015
The year started out with a bang as snow blanketed the region in January, closing some schools – and putting some school children to work.
“(School District) 38 is off today, so school is out today. So (my son has) got to work a little bit. He’s got to shovel and I do the snow blowing,” said Dave Manst of Monument.
May brought an intense hailstorm to northern Colorado Springs destroying the entire top floor of an office building.
Dr. Corinne Laurence of Pikes Peak Internal Medicine was a tenant in one of the offices. “We had just had our last patient leave our suite, when the roof tiles in this (left hand) corner came crashing down on the patient chairs,” she said.
That same month saw record rain, causing problems for people along creeks.
“Now instead of just flooding and going away, the water stays and stays and stays and, of course, that makes the destruction and the erosion and the debris and all that (so) much worse,” said Bill Alt of Pueblo County.
June ushered in one of nature’s most fearsome sights. A tornado near Simla damaged homes and flipped a trailer.
Kyle Stodola and his family were caught in the tornado.
He said, “(I) couldn’t see anything and the lights went out and then glass started blowing everywhere and then our basement door slams shut.”
In November, Trinidad was buried by more than a foot of snow.
Shane Elgin said, “I got a phone call yesterday and the boss said don’t even bother trying.”
Strong winds in November also knocked down telephone poles in Colorado Springs.
“Somebody told (us) that a phone line was down, and there were three poles down across Manitou Avenue and the traffic was backing up and it was crazy,” said Farley McDonough of Adams Mountain Cafe, which was closed by the downed poles.
You can blame El Nio for all of the wild weather.
You probably know what El Nio is – warmer than normal water in the Equatorial Pacific.
El Nio affects our weather here in Southern Colorado. How? By making the spring storm track move to our south – the so-called Albuquerque Lows that you hear people talk about.
That means more chances for heavy snow and severe weather.
