Projects

Weather stations

Colorado Climate Center | West Texas A&M

The 'Old Fort' has been a National Weather Service weather station since 1915. Its official name is Fort Lewis 53016. The temperature recorded daily includes minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation (rain and or snowfall), and current snow depth.

The Colorado Climate Center was established by the state in 1974 through the Colorado State University Agricultural Experiment Station to provide information and expertise on Colorado's complex climate.

View historical precipitation and temperature data

West Texas Mesonet Station

In 2016, West Texas A&M established a weather station on the upper bench near the hay fields. It records real-time data for:

  • Average one-minute 10-meter AGL wind speed and direction
  • Peak 3-second 10-meter wind gust
  • Average one-minute 9-meter temperature
  • Average one-minute 20 ft wind speed
  • Average one-minute 2-meter solar radiation (incoming)
  • Average one-minute 2-meter wind speed
  • Average one-minute 2-meter temperature
  • Average one-minute 1.5-meter temperature
  • Average one-minute 1.5-meter Relative Humidity and Dew point
  • Average one-minute station pressure and altimeter
  • Average 15-minute leaf wetness
  • Rainfall/Melted ice & snow: one-minute, hourly, daily, monthly, and station history

View live station readings

San Juan Basin Research Center

Research at the Old Fort provided many opportunities for graduate student research projects at Colorado State University. Over 40 MS theses and Ph.D. dissertations have been written on data collected at the Old Fort (San Juan Basin Research Center), and over 200 scientific papers and popular articles have been published.

In June 2010, Colorado State University closed the San Juan Basin Research Center at the Hesperus location.

View historical research records

Reach out about a new project

Please contact us to inquire about a new project at the Old Fort.

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The Old Fort

18683 CO-140
Hesperus, CO 81326
 oldfortathesperus@fortlewis.edu
 970-385-4574

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Land Acknowledgement 

We acknowledge the land that the Old Fort is situated upon is the ancestral land and territory of the Nuuchiu (Ute) people who were forcibly removed by the United States Government. We also acknowledge that this land is connected to the communal and ceremonial spaces of the Jicarilla Abache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Diné (Navajo) Nations.

The Old Fort and Fort Lewis College are committed to reconciling their history as a federal Indian Boarding School from 1892 to 1909.

Learn more about reconciliation

 

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The Old Fort is owned by the Colorado State Land Board and managed by Fort Lewis College.


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