Walsenburg, Colorado climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Walsenburg's normal year runs from 20°F December nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 17.3 inches of precipitation and 92 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 10.9°C, December lows of −6°C, July highs of 31°C, 439 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationWalsenburg (1 mi NW)
- Station IDUSC00058781
- Location37.63°N 104.80°W
- Elevation6,292 ft (1,918 m)
- Population3,035
On October 23, the normal high in Walsenburg is 66°F and the normal low 34°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 15%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Walsenburg.
- Jan 47° 21°
- Feb 49° 22°
- Mar 57° 27°
- Apr 63° 34°
- May 73° 43°
- Jun 84° 52°
- Jul 87° 58°
- Aug 85° 56°
- Sep 79° 48°
- Oct 68° 37°
- Nov 56° 28°
- Dec 47° 20°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Walsenburg each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 20°F. The most precipitation falls in April (2.26 in), the least in February (0.82 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47°F | 21°F | 34.0°F | 0.83 | 10.5 | 4 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| February | 49°F | 22°F | 35.4°F | 0.82 | 12.8 | 5 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 57°F | 27°F | 42.1°F | 1.72 | 17.4 | 7 | <1 | 21 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 63°F | 34°F | 48.5°F | 2.26 | 15.1 | 7 | <1 | 13 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 43°F | 57.6°F | 1.82 | 2.0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 14 h 10 min |
| June | 84°F | 52°F | 67.7°F | 1.28 | 0.0 | 6 | 8 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 87°F | 58°F | 72.5°F | 2.24 | 0.0 | 10 | 15 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 85°F | 56°F | 70.6°F | 2.15 | 0.0 | 11 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 79°F | 48°F | 63.6°F | 0.85 | 0.5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 37°F | 52.5°F | 1.31 | 7.2 | 5 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 56°F | 28°F | 41.8°F | 1.00 | 12.7 | 5 | <1 | 19 | 10 h 10 min |
| December | 47°F | 20°F | 33.4°F | 1.01 | 13.4 | 5 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 66°F | 37°F | 51.6°F | 17.29 | 91.6 | 78 | 34 | 137 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8°C | −6°C | 1.1°C | 21 mm | 27 cm |
| February | 10°C | −6°C | 1.9°C | 21 mm | 33 cm |
| March | 14°C | −3°C | 5.6°C | 44 mm | 44 cm |
| April | 17°C | 1°C | 9.2°C | 57 mm | 38 cm |
| May | 23°C | 6°C | 14.2°C | 46 mm | 5 cm |
| June | 29°C | 11°C | 19.8°C | 33 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 31°C | 14°C | 22.5°C | 57 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 30°C | 13°C | 21.4°C | 55 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 9°C | 17.6°C | 22 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 20°C | 3°C | 11.4°C | 33 mm | 18 cm |
| November | 13°C | −2°C | 5.4°C | 25 mm | 32 cm |
| December | 8°C | −6°C | 0.8°C | 26 mm | 34 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058781; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Walsenburg?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (5).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058781.
When is the last frost in Walsenburg?
In Walsenburg, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 6 in half of years and after May 20 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 4 in half of years and before September 23 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- May 61 year in 10 after May 20; 9 in 10 after April 24
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 41 year in 10 before September 23; 9 in 10 before October 17
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 149 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 168 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 29 in half of springs and before October 15 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Walsenburg in zone 6a in ZIP code 81089, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Walsenburg's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (28 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00058781; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Walsenburg?
In a normal year in Walsenburg, 34 days a year reach 90°F, 137 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 78 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 34a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 137a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 12high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 78a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 21a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1934) is 106°F, on July 25, 1940; the lowest is −36°F, on January 12, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 27.76 in; the snowiest season is 1997–98, with 196.8 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00058781; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00058781. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Walsenburg?
Over a year 83% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Walsenburg, 5.2 kWh per square metre a day. September is the sunniest month (87%) and April the cloudiest (80%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 83% | 3.0 |
| February | 81% | 3.9 |
| March | 82% | 5.2 |
| April | 80% | 6.3 |
| May | 81% | 7.0 |
| June | 84% | 7.5 |
| July | 83% | 7.0 |
| August | 84% | 6.4 |
| September | 87% | 5.6 |
| October | 85% | 4.4 |
| November | 85% | 3.3 |
| December | 81% | 2.6 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Walsenburg need?
A normal year in Walsenburg brings 5,463 heating degree days, 2% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 623 cooling degree days, 31% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,857 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 961 | 0 |
| February | 829 | 0 |
| March | 708 | 0 |
| April | 496 | 1 |
| May | 247 | 17 |
| June | 42 | 121 |
| July | 4 | 235 |
| August | 10 | 185 |
| September | 102 | 60 |
| October | 390 | 3 |
| November | 696 | 0 |
| December | 978 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,463 | 623 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00058781. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Walsenburg been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 53.6°F, 2.0°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 51.6°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52.3°F | +0.7°F | 17.74 | 63.9 |
| 2022 | 50.8°F | −0.8°F | 17.39 | 97.0 |
| 2023 | 51.7°F | +0.1°F | 14.63 | 58.9 |
| 2024 | 53.5°F | +1.9°F | 23.00 | 103.9 |
| 2025 | 53.6°F | +2.0°F | 13.17 | 39.8 |
Over 69 complete years from 1944 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.1°F per century (+0.11°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00058781; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Walsenburg's climate compare?
Walsenburg is warmer than 102 of the other 124 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 85. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 51.6°F is warmer than 48%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Walsenburg is Cfa: temperate, no dry season, hot summer. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Walsenburg share this climate record?
3 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- La Veta, CO869 people · 14 mi SW
- Aguilar, CO447 people · 17 mi SE
- Lynn, CO6 people · 17 mi SE
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Walsenburg's climate
What is the coldest month in Walsenburg?
December, with a normal high of 47°F and a normal low of 20°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 58°F at night).
Does it snow in Walsenburg?
Yes: 92 inches in a normal year, falling on 29 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in March (17.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Walsenburg?
April, with 2.26 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.82 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Walsenburg in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Walsenburg in zone 6a in ZIP code 81089, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Walsenburg's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 6a.
How late can frost come in Walsenburg?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 6; in one year in ten it comes after May 20. Waiting until May 20 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Rye, CO21 miles from this station, 50.0°F a year
- Sheep Mountain, CO25 miles from this station, 45.9°F a year
- Trinidad, CO36 miles from this station, 52.9°F a year
- Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, CO40 miles from this station, 44.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made