January 2026 Monthly Weather Summary

Описание: January 2026 Monthly Weather Summary

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For a written January 2026 weather summary, please visit our website at https://www.weather.gov/media/gjt/Jan...
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January began with widespread mountain snow and valley rain, leading to some difficult post-holiday travel across the mountain passes. Thanks to the increased moisture now trapped in the lower valleys, dense fog also became an issue during the first week of the month. Throughout this period, temperatures ran close 10-15 degrees above January normals. Unsettled conditions, especially across the terrain, lasted into the second week of the month, with light to moderate accumulations. By the second Friday of the month, temperatures actually dipped below normal, but this didn't last for long. Above normal temperatures returned for the third week of the month, along with increasingly sunny and dry conditions. What little snow we managed to gain during the first half of the month would now come up against a period of above normal temperatures with little to no reinforcing snowfall. This pattern lasted all the way to the 23rd of the month, before another system finally brought a return of cooler air and snow. This time snow managed to settle down to valley floors, with even Grand Junction getting in on around an inch of snow. However, this cooler and unsettled weather only stuck around for a few days. A gradual warming trend rounded out the month, with highs climbing back to 10-15 degrees above normal, and most locations seeing mostly sunny skies. The northern Divide mountains did manage one last brief burst of snow, but with totals of less than 6 inches, it didn't help the snow drought much.

The month of January was overall warmer than normal, with all ten of the automated weather observation stations located at airports across eastern Utah and western Colorado finishing the month with above normal mean temperatures. Mean temperature departures ranged from 2.0F to 8.2F above normal. The highest temperature recorded at any of the ten sites was 56F, which occurred at Cortez-Montezuma County Airport on the 13th. The coldest temperature recorded at any of the ten sites was -17F, which occurred at Craig-Moffat County Airport on the 26th. The month was generally drier than normal, with eight of the ten automated weather observation stations finishing the month with below normal precipitation. The precipitation totals departures ranged from 0.08 inches above normal to 0.81 inches below normal. The most precipitation fell at Durango-La Plata County Airport, where the month-end total of 0.99 inches was 0.29 inches below normal. The least precipitation fell at Vernal Airport, where the month-end total of 0.10 inches was 0.49 inches below normal. The two sites to see above normal precipitation were Montrose Regional Airport, where the month-end total of 0.49 inches was 0.08 inches above normal, and Canyonlands Airport, near Moab, UT, where the month-end total of 0.49 inches was 0.04 inches above normal.

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Please note that all data mentioned is collected from our automated observing stations from 10 different airports across eastern Utah and western Colorado. Some of our cooperative observers in more remote areas may have measured warmer or colder temperatures, or more or less precipitation than what was mentioned in this summary.


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National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office
Grand Junction, CO