Winter in Colorado Springs has been a tale of weather whiplash so far, with the latest snowstorm breaking a more than 60-year-old snow total record.

Piling more than a foot of snow in parts of the Colorado Springs area on Friday, the storm broke the 1962 record for Jan. 9 of 5 inches of snow, according to data from the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Snow totals at the Colorado Springs Airport were as high as 13.3 inches on Friday, jumping by more than 4 inches since frosty flakes started dropping across the city on Thursday.

That amount equates to around 1.33 inches of precipitation, beating the old record of 0.32 inches of precipitation set in 1962.

Other areas in Colorado Springs also saw over a foot of snow, including the Cimarron Hills area near Powers Boulevard and Galley Road. Farther south, Security-Widefield recorded 13 inches of snow.

Across the city, 11.5 inches fell.

The storm brought more than the Weather Service was forecasting by over 5 inches and prompted the closure of the city of Colorado Springs administrative offices, as well as the El Paso County offices on Friday.

El Paso and Teller County Combined Courts also were closed, as well as many schools, along with some businesses, government offices and institutions, including public libraries and Peak Vista Community Health Centers in Colorado Springs and Divide.

The U.S. Air Force Academy was mostly closed, with only mission-essential and emergency service personnel working. Fort Carson initially announced delayed openings but changed to only mission-essential and emergency service personnel working.

The snowstorm followed a dry and warm winter holiday, with Colorado Springs seeing a record high of 71 degrees on Christmas and a snow-free New Year’s.

WARM TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TO RETURN

Despite frigid Friday night temperatures, southern Colorado will be back to above-average winter highs this weekend. Temperatures will slowly rebound Saturday, with a high near 39 degrees and sunny skies. That is almost 10 degrees above the average for January, according to Weather Service data.

Temperatures will be near 46 degrees on Sunday, and will be back in the 50s by Monday.

For most of December, temperatures were above average, topping out in the 60s and even 70s for some areas in the southern half of the state. December 2025 broke records as the warmest since 1983, but yearly totals are on par with historic averages in Colorado Springs, despite making the “top 10 warmest years” list.

Weather Service Meteorologist Eric Petersen told The Gazette on Wednesday that the unseasonably high temperatures are normal, but December’s “extreme warmth” was “unusually long.”

He also said the warm weather was a product of a La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which he says tends to make the climate in southern Colorado warmer and drier, while favoring colder, snowier conditions in the northern mountains.