Overall temperatures thus far this month have tended to be below normal. Today we see a change that will bring warmer than normal mercury readings that should last through the week and into the weekend.

Today starts out with clear skies but high clouds will develop by mid-morning and increase in coverage. By late afternoon, skies will be partly clear.

Temperatures start out on the cold side but then will warm quickly and head toward a high in the mid-50s before cooling down in the mid-afternoon.

Tonight, skies will be mostly cloudy with lows a bit below freezing.

Looking ahead, high pressure is going to reign and should keep us mild and dry for the foreseeable future. Have a look at the entended weather forecast for more.

High pressure is going to be dominant over the three-day period. That will lead to days with lots of sun and temperatures staying relatively close to normal.

For Friday, a few clouds will be around but not a tremendous amount. Temperatures will top out around 41 degrees, a couple short of average for the date. Tonight, partly clear skies will be above with lows near 20 degrees.

Saturday will be the warmest day of the period with highs in the mid to upper 40s. Look for sunny skies with calm conditions. Saturday night into Sunday morning, skies will be mostly clear with lows dipping to the low 20s.

Sunday closes out the weekend in fine fashion with lots of sun and conditions remaining calm. Highs will be the mid-40s.

Have a great weekend!

Cold air filtering down from the northwest will be a driving factor in our weather today. That will keep things chilly and moisture aloft will give us some clouds throughout the day.

We start off with mostly cloudy skies then should see some easing in the coverage before it builds again in mid to late afternoon. Temperatures today will struggle to even reach the freezing mark.

Tonight, skies will be mostly cloudy with lows near 20 degrees.

With a good bit of upper level moisture streaming in from the west, clouds will be more present today than yesterday. Temperatures will be similar, remaining chilly and a bit below normal.

Partly clear skies start things off but cloud cover will increase steadily throughout the day. Overall, mostly cloudy will be rule.

Temperatures start out quite cold then will warm toward an early afternoon high in the low 40s before starting their descent.

Tonight, mostly cloudy skies will be above and lows will dip into the teens.

A pretty nice, late fall day ahead for us. Sunny skies above will be the rule but temps will be a bit below normal.

Clear skies start us off this morning and will continue through the day with nary a cloud to be seen throughout. Overall conditions will be calm and dry. Temperatures will top out near the 40 degree mark, a few degrees below normal.

Tonight, skies will be mostly clear with lows down to the mid-teens.

December 2 to December 8: This Week in Denver Weather History

This week has historically been an extremely eventful one in Denver with many notable weather events, most of which are snow or wind related.  The most significant event occurred 99 years ago when the city received its biggest snowstorm on record – an astonishing 45.7 inches.  Details on that event and many others are below.

From the National Weather Service:

30-2

In 1975…very strong Chinook winds up to 100 mph caused damage to homes…aircraft…aircraft hangars…mobile homes… Cars…and power lines along the eastern foothills. Strong northwest winds gusted to 39 mph at Stapleton International Airport on both the 30th and the 1st.

1-2

In 1933…apparent post-frontal heavy snowfall totaled 8.0 inches across downtown Denver. North winds were sustained to 17 mph with an extreme velocity to 18 mph on the 1st.

In 1981 strong winds gusted to over 70 mph along the foothills. A peak gust to 100 mph was recorded at Wondervu. A gust to 94 mph was recorded just west of Boulder. Roofs on houses were damaged in the Evergreen area…and some mobile homes also were damaged. At Stapleton International Airport…northwest winds gusted 44 mph on the 1st and 37 mph on the 2nd.

1-5

In 1913…the 1st marked the start of the heaviest 5-day total snowfall in the city’s history. During this period snowfall totaled 45.7 inches. Starting on the 1st…snow fell intermittently for 3 days and accumulated a little over 8 inches. On the 4th and 5th…an additional 37.4 inches of snow fell. At Georgetown in the foothills west of Denver even more snow fell…86 inches over the 5 days with the most…63 inches…on the 4th.  In Colorado…snowfall was heavy along the eastern slopes of the mountains from the palmer divide north. High winds during the storm caused heavy drifting…which blocked all transportation. Snow cover of an inch or more from the storm persisted for 60 consecutive days from the 1st through January 29…1914. Additional snowfall in December and January prolonged the number of days. This is the third longest period of snow cover on record in the city.

2

In 1893…northwest winds were sustained to 42 mph with gusts to 46 mph. Snowfall was only 1.4 inches in the city.

In 1895…0.01 inch of melted snow from 0.7 inch of snowfall was the only measurable precipitation of the month in downtown Denver…ranking the month the 3rd driest December on record.

In 1899…post-frontal northeast winds sustained to 44 mph with gusts to 59 mph caused the temperature to plunge from a high of 55 degrees to a low of 15 degrees. Snowfall was only 1.0 inch.

In 1902…apparent post-frontal northwest winds were sustained to 45 mph with gusts to 53 mph. A trace of snow fell.

In 1905…only a trace of snow fell in downtown Denver. This was the only snow and precipitation for the month… Ranking the month the second driest and the second least snowiest December on record.

In 1921…snowfall was 5.5 inches in downtown Denver. Northwest winds were sustained to 24 mph with an extreme velocity of 25 mph.

In 1951…a vigorous pacific cold front produced a northwest wind gust to 51 mph at Stapleton Airport where brief blowing dust was observed.

In 1957…a strong pacific cold front produced northwest wind gusts to 54 mph at Stapleton Airport where the surface visibility was briefly reduced to 1 1/2 miles in blowing dust.

In 1977…high winds in Boulder lifted a warehouse from its foundation and ripped it apart. Wind gusts from 60 to 103 mph toppled and injured a man while walking. Winds were clocked to 104 mph at Nederland…100 mph at Morrison…and 62 mph at Rocky Flats. Northwest winds gusted to 41 mph at Stapleton International Airport.

In 1996…for the second day in a row high winds ripped the Front Range foothills. Winds gusted to 81 mph in Golden Gate Canyon. West-northwest winds gusted to 37 mph at Denver International Airport.

In 2013…high winds developed ahead of an approaching storm system. The strong winds downed several trees around Evergreen. Peak wind gusts included: 79 mph…4 miles west-southwest of Eldorado Springs; 78 mph…3 miles south of Evergreen; 75 mph and the NCAR Mesa Lab; and 69 mph in Longmont.

» Click here to read the rest of December 2 to December 8: This week in Denver weather history

Thornton’s month of November saw us get a real taste of what is to come for the next few months. Temperatures cooled considerably and we saw a decent bit of snow although not as much as normal.

The first five days of the month started out relatively mild but then we saw a series of systems interrupt the calm.  Temperatures turned colder and on the 11th and 12th we received a nice little snowfall. We briefly warmed up then saw some light rain on the 18th and 19th and then once again warmed back up. The month closed out with a chilly day and some light snow.

• November 2018 top shots: Monthly photo slideshow

Thornton saw an overall average temperature for the month of 36.8 degrees. This was a good bit colder than Denver’s long term average for the month of 38.3 degrees. Out at DIA where Denver’s official measurements are taken, it was a good bit warmer with an average of 37.8 degrees.

Temperatures for us ranged from a high of 64.7 degrees on the 2nd of the month down to a cold low of 15.7 degrees on the morning of the 26th.  Denver’s high of 65 degrees on the 2nd matched ours but their coldest reading of 10 on the 12th was notably colder than our lowest reading.

November’s long term precipitation average in Denver is 0.61 inches.  Thornton managed about half that in our bucket with 0.31 inches with Denver close to us at 0.35 inches.

Snowfall was respectable but not notable. Thornton recorded 6.3 inches of the white stuff while Denver, as usual, lagged with 4.5 inches. Both measurements were below Denver’s long term November average of 8.7 inches.

Click here to view Thornton’s November 2018 climate report.

Thornton, Colorado’s November 2018 temperature summary. (ThorntonWeather.com)

Thornton, Colorado’s November 2018 precipitation summary. (ThorntonWeather.com)

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO
929 AM MST MON DEC 3 2018

...................................

...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2018...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2018

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART  LAST YEAR`S
                 VALUE   DATE(S)  VALUE   FROM    VALUE  DATE(S)
                                          NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
 HIGH              81   11/27/2017
 LOW              -18   11/29/1877
HIGHEST            65   11/02        73      -8       81  11/27
LOWEST             10   11/12        -6      16       22  11/15
                                                          11/12
AVG. MAXIMUM     50.6              52.1    -1.5     61.1
AVG. MINIMUM     25.0              24.5     0.5     29.4
MEAN             37.8              38.3    -0.5     45.3
DAYS MAX >= 90      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MAX <= 32      2               2.3    -0.3        0
DAYS MIN <= 32     27              23.4     3.6       22
DAYS MIN <= 0       0               0.6    -0.6        0

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
 MAXIMUM         3.21   1946
 MINIMUM            T   1899
                        1901
                        1949
TOTALS           0.35              0.61   -0.26     0.29
DAILY AVG.       0.01              0.02   -0.01     0.01
DAYS >= .01         6               4.7     1.3        3
DAYS >= .10         1               1.6    -0.6        1
DAYS >= .50         0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS >= 1.00        0               0.0     0.0        0
GREATEST
 24 HR. TOTAL    0.17   11/11 TO 11/11           11/17 TO 11/17

SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL             4.5               8.7
RECORD NOVEMBER  42.5  1946

DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL     808               801       7      586
 SINCE 7/1       1373              1382      -9     1171
COOLING TOTAL       0                 0       0        0
 SINCE 1/1       1026               769     257      881

FREEZE DATES
RECORD
 EARLIEST     09/08/1962
 LATEST       06/08/2007
EARLIEST                        10/07
LATEST                          05/05
.................................................................

WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED              9.8
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION   2/225
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION    48/330    DATE  11/24
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION    62/320    DATE  11/24

SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT)   MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER           0.50
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR            8
NUMBER OF DAYS PC             16
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY          6

AVERAGE RH (PERCENT)     56

WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORMS             0      MIXED PRECIP       0
HEAVY RAIN                0      RAIN               0
LIGHT RAIN                2      FREEZING RAIN      0
LIGHT FREEZING RAIN       1      HAIL               0
HEAVY SNOW                0      SNOW               3
LIGHT SNOW                9      SLEET              0
FOG                       8      DENSE FOG          2
HAZE                      2

-  INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R  INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T  INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.

November brought Thornton cooler than normal temperatures and a bit more snow than usual.  What will December hold for us?

The month of December brings with it the official start of winter and oftentimes, colder and snowier weather conditions.

It however can also offer unseasonably warm temperatures and bone dry conditions.  Given our recent mild and dry weather, we are certainly hoping for a change in the coming month.

Overall December’s monthly mean temperature of 30.0 degrees (1981 – 2010 averages) makes it our coldest month.  Snow is always on everyone’s mind this time of year but December is only our 3rd snowiest month behind March and November with an average of 8.5 inches of the white stuff.

Get all the details on Thornton’s December weather including a look back at historical events and a look at the long range forecast in our December weather preview here.

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Another weak disturbance impacts northern Colorado again today. As a result we will have a good bit of cloud cover, temps will be well below normal and we may see some of the white stuff.

Partly cloudy skies start things off and there may be a few flakes that fall early although no accumulation is expected. After that, partly cloudy skies will continue to be the rule for the balance of the day.

Temperatures will only be reaching the mid-30s today, about 10 degrees below normal. Mid-afternoon into the evening may see some light snow but minimal accumulation is all that is expected, if anything at all.

Tonight, any showers will end early then skies will see some clearing. Overnight lows will be in the mid-teens.

A couple of disturbances will be moving through Colorado over the three day period and offering up changes to our weather. Friday will bring just a slight chance for a shower, Saturday will be breezy and Sunday sees a chill take hold.

For today, partly sunny skies will be above initially with increased cloud cover this afternoon. Highs will top out in the mid-40s. The afternoon and evening bring just a slight chance for a rain or snow shower but no accumulation is expected. Tonight, skies will be mostly cloudy with lows to the mid-20s.

Saturday will be dry with temperatures near normal. However, we do expect to see some breezy winds, particularly in the afternoon. Saturday night into Sunday morning lows drop to the mid-20s.

Sunday will be the coldest day of the period with highs only near freezing. Some light snow will be possible throughout the day and into Sunday evening but little accumulation is expected.

Have a great weekend!