Denver Forecast
Denver has seen fewer than 10 days with highs 90°F or hotter in 2023, that's about to change
It's been years since we've seen such a slow start to our annual 90°F day tally in Denver. To date, Denver has recorded just seven 90°F+ days since the start of the year, which is the lowest count for the period we've seen since 2009. In the years since 2015, every year has had at least 15 90°F days through July 20th until this year, with more than 30 (30!) days recording last year by this time. Frequency of those sub-10 day years through July 20th has certainly waned in recent decades. The
Climate
Analyzing Colorado's precipitation trends over the last 125 years
Precipitation totals over the past 125 years haven't changed much for Colorado on the whole, however, county-level data reveal notable trends between months and seasons. Similar analyses have been done on a national level, and those studies also point to precipitation variability and shifts across the Lower 48. These studies have different processes and utilize different datasets, but the outcomes are rather similar amongst various methodologies. In my methodology, I take a simplistic approac
Climate
Is there precedent for a wetter than average March in Colorado during a La Niña?
Our March/April/May outlook we released a few weeks ago was for a bias toward near average temperatures and below average precipitation for Northeast Colorado, and drier than average conditions across the region on the whole. This is largely based on the continued La Niña, and a host of other teleconnections and considerations which went into our analog package for the coming three months. While we've been discussing how this La Niña
Climate
Denver's winter temperature remains on track despite fewer extreme cold events
How can we measure cold snaps? Well, for this purpose let's look at winter average low temperatures and the number of days that cool to zero degrees or colder, and then we'll look at the coldest of the cold readings. To begin, let's just look at the Denver-averaged occurrence of low temperatures dropping to and below zero in our history. Denver "officially" uses this record known as 'Denver Area.' In that span, there is a decrease in the number of days that have dropped to and below zero. Denv
Climate
Colorado’s top weather and climate events of 2020
The year has finally come to a close, and I think we can all agree that we don't feel bad shutting the door on 2020. While we welcome 2021, let's look back at some of the most memorable weather and climate events that occurred in Colorado this past year. Boulder Snow On October 10, 2019 3.8 inches of snow fell in Boulder. Not anything memorable, except it started off Boulder's snowiest season on record. On April 17, 2020 16.9 inches of snow accumulated, bringing Boulder's seasonal total to a wh
Election Forecast
Presidential Election Day weather history, Denver
Let's take a look at Presidential Election days going back in Denver's history. This year is the warmest voting day in Denver's history for presidential election years. DIA hit 79 Tuesday afternoon, making it one of two warmest Election Days on record including all presidential and offset election years as well. The warmest presidential Election Day prior to 2020 was in 1952 when it hit 74 degrees. The coldest presidential votin
Climate
Here's the long list of weather records broken in Denver over the last five days
It's been an incredible and unforgettable five days of weather along the Front Range of Colorado and across the Eastern Plains. In the last five days Denver has either set or tied two daily record highs, set a new monthly record high (of 101°F!), tied the earliest freeze on record, and set or tied two record lows among a myriad of other mind-blowing stats. Here's the list, hold on! September 5th: Latest 100°F reading on record for Denver With the temperature breaking 100°F on Saturday at Den
Climate
Denver could set numerous temperature records in the coming days
Let's put the snow conversation to the side for a moment and take a look at some of the remarkable temperature records Denver is likely to challenge or break in the coming days. Most 90-degree days in a year Today Denver broke 90-degrees for the 70th time in 2020. That's just three shy of the record for 90-degree days set back in 2012. The c
Denver Snow
First snow of the season for the high peaks of Colorado
With some recent snowfall on our highest peaks, let's take a look at Colorado's history when it comes to the start of our snow season. No, it wasn't much but this was the scene at Loveland Ski Area Tuesday morning, exciting to see after a long hot summer! Many other areas, Aspen and Telluride included, reported a frosting of snow also. Is this early for the season? No. It's actually over a week later than 2019 but the first dusting of snow is hardly consequential. Let's look at some dates
Climate
How February snows have helped shape Colorado's 2019 - 2020 snow season
It's been a roller coaster winter for Colorado, and February was certainly no exception. January was warm and dry, and many people feared it signaled the end of winter and beginning of drought. But after a gloriously beautiful spring-like beginning to February, the "mild switch" was turned off. Take a look at this graph of daily temperatures compared to average for Fort Collins. While both January and February are part of winter, the long-term trend indicates that February is usually warmer tha
Climate
A look at Christmas Day extremes
Christmas is coming up, and usually, the question on everyone's mind is, "Will we have a White Christmas?" You've likely already read or seen several different articles addressing the statistical probability of snow on Christmas, including here on Weather5280. With a ridge of high pressure moving across the middle of the country, it's more likely that many people will experience a sunny and mil
Year in Review
The weather and climate stories that shaped the last decade in Colorado
With 2019 coming to a close, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the most significant weather and climate stories from Denver and across Colorado over the last ten years. The one that first came to my mind was the 2013 floods, but quickly we had a list of events much longer than we've even included here. The last decade was marked by many warm years, catastrophic floods and fires, and plenty of variability in snow and ice from year to year. Oh, and of course plenty of beautiful, sunny
Climate
Denver's top December snowstorms on record
December is historically Denver's third snowiest month which averages 8.1 inches of snowfall. There have been some noteworthy years for snowfall this month, including the Christmas storm in the early 80s. Here we take a look at the top storms in December: #3. 20.7" December 20th to 21st, 2006 This storm was one of the biggest challenges to the city's "new" Denver International Airport and was a catalyst for changes in the airport's operations and procedures [https://www.internationalairportre
Snow
Top 10 snowiest Novembers for Denver, select Front Range cities
Denver's long-running average is 7.5 inches of snow in November. This makes it the cities 5th snowiest month on average, behind December, February, March, and April. Denver International Airport, where official records are currently kept (and have been since 2005) averages 3.3 inches, meanwhile, Stapleton (1948-2018) averages 8 inches. Other sites: * Fort Collins (1894-2018) averages 6.8 inches. * Boulder (1893-2018) averages 11.2 inches. * Castle Rock/Sedalia (1959-2018) averages 10.5 inch
Snowfall Totals
Third snowiest October for Stapleton, 4th Boulder, 5th Colorado Springs
Given no snow is expected today, the month will close at 12.5 inches of snowfall for Denver which is 12th highest of all 'official' Denver Octobers. That stat does compare several snowfall measurement sites, so let's see how it really compares. First, this October ranks 12th in Denver's official record: Since this monthly total was measured at DIA, let's compare this to DIA's period of record for October snow totals: This year is 2nd to 2009 in DIA's short history of snowfall reports. L
Climate
Does above-average October snowfall indicate an above-average snow season to come?
The official snowfall total for Denver this October is 12.5". Measurements are taken at Denver International Airport , some 20 miles away from downtown Denver. At Stapleton, the tally for the month is 15.7", with 20.2" recorded at our station on Denver's west side. All in all, an impressive snowy month across the area for the first time in years, and the first time in a decade, the city has recorded 10" or more of snow in t
Climate
Denver Sets Two New Record Lows, Two-Day Drop is Second Greatest On Record
The temperature before midnight last night dropped to 13°F at Denver International Airport, setting a new record low for the date for Denver. The previous record low was 17°F set back in 2009. This morning, DIA dropped to 9°F (single digits?!) smashing the old record low for October 11th of 22°F set back in 1946. So far this month we have set two new record lows. Denver has set five record lows in 2019, vs six record highs. Here's a look at our turbulent start to October, compared to our prev
Climate
Colorado May Have Broken Its All-Time High Temperature Record in July
Colorado’s all-time record high temperature may have fallen in July. A 115-degree reading was taken near Las Animas in southeast parts of the state. If and when verified, it’s set to best the old mark of 114 degrees. It was something of an accidental finding, a reminder that every now and then the Internet shows us why we all thought it was awesome in the first place. I was playing with some data from the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), as I often do, when I came across it. In this c
Climate
Two-Year Snowfall Slump in Rare Company for Denver as We near the End of 2018
I understand that we typically measure seasonal snowfall totals (September - May) rather than annual, but given we're not even halfway through this season, let's take a quick look at how annual snowfall since January 2017 in Denver stacks up against previous years. 2017 was the least snowy year on record (dating back to 1882) for Denver. At just 17.2" on the year, it nudged out 1887 (18.9") as least snowiest, with 1888 coming in as a close third at 21.5". Remarkably, Denver has only recorded le
Weather Stats
A Lack of Precipitation at Denver International Airport This Summer
Depending on who you ask, it's either been a very wet or very dry summer. Often enough, there's good reason for this: we see huge variations in precipitation totals across very small geographic areas along the Front Range and eastern plains, especially during the summer months. Sometimes, it's simply a matter of perception –– I don't think of June and July being particularly wet around here, but thanks to a few good storms, our weather station actually ran above average over these two months. I
Colorado Weather
Heat Burst Hits Northeastern Colorado Thursday Morning
Post via kdvr.com / @MattMakens a member of the Pinpoint Weather Team for KDVR/KWGN. Northeastern Colorado jumped from the 70s to the 90s in a matter of moments in the early morning hours Thursday. Hot temperatures Wednesday afternoon fueled very few thunderstorms, but those storms that did form had very strong wind. Microbursts were reported from Parker to Boulder and DIA and also on the plains. > Photos of microburst damage in Parker from Joanna K.. Peak winds would have been 50mph+ just b
Snowpack
Perspective on Colorado's Snowpack: Is There A Downward Trend?
Matt Makens is a KWGN Pinpoint Meteorologist and occasional contributor to Weather5280 from Denver's Pinpoint weather team. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's the time of year when we look at the snowpack numbers to climb, and hopefully stay near to above average for water resources, fire danger, and the economy; so far, so good. Here is the average snowpack chart for Colorado showing a nearly normal curve until th
Weather Stats
Powderful Statistics: Exploring Denver's Snowy Side
I recently wrote about the lack of September snowfalls in Denver since 2000. A couple of things became clear shortly after publishing: 1) Weather5280 readers love their snow (but we already knew this), and 2) snowfall stats are fun to explore, debate, and discuss. So, let's take it a bit of a deeper dive today, and dig into Denver's snowfall history, trends, and other fun snowy stats. Seasonal snowfall averages and trends First, here's a c
Denver Weather
The September Snows I Used to Know
There are many things I remember from my childhood that I've come to realize later in life the reality of which is perhaps a bit skewed, or embellished. One memory I have of growing up is that it would sometimes snow in September in Denver, perhaps it's even fair to say it would often snow in September. As it turns out, this memory isn't all that wrong. Denver hasn't seen more than a trace of snow in September since 2000 when 0.2" of snow fell on the city. You have to go back to 1999 to find
Weather Stats
Least Snowy March on Record for Denver; Season Least Snowiest to Date as Well
Weather5280 was started with the hopes and dreams of communicating epic snows and working exhaustively on continuous snowfall projections. That's still the dream. Like the Seven Dwarfs, the seven of us continue marching along. The march was slow in March, and has been all winter. With only 19.3 inches of snowfall measured to date, this snowfall season is the least snowy ever recorded through March. Recorded snowfall goes back to 1882 for Denver. Since that time, the city has recorded as muc