Tag Archives: Denver climate

Last week’s snowfall totals from the storm highlight an ongoing issue

Denver's March 14 & 15, 2024 Snowfall Totals. (National Weather Service)
Denver’s March 14 & 15, 2024 Snowfall Totals. (National Weather Service)

We all know our Pi Day storm last week was a big one.

Here in Thornton we recorded 10.8 inches. Downtown Denver reported 12.2 inches.

What will Denver’s official snow records show? A mere 5.7 inches. This is a direct result of the National Weather Service’s insistence on having Denver’s official measurements taken at Denver International Airport.

Data was collected in downtown Denver from 1872 through December 1948, then at the Stapleton Airport Office from January 1950 through February 1995. In March 1995, the service made the station at DIA the city’s official station for most meteorological observations. In 2008, they began taking official snowfall measurements out there.

Being so far from the Mile High City’s population center, the data collected there is entirely unrepresentative of what residents experience. Further, the move has skewed our climate records rendering comparisons to historical data invalid.  It is highly frustrating and is a significant issue which the National Weather Service dismisses.

Local television meteorologists have long railed against the change in station, most notably Mike Nelson of Denver 7. With this storm, Ashton Altieri of CBS 4 called the National Weather Service out on it.

November 2008 weather preview posted

A Preview of Denver's November Weather - Will it be a Fall Month or a Winter Month?
A Preview of Denver's November Weather - Will it be a Fall Month or a Winter Month?

A preview of Denver’s November weather – Will it be a fall month or a winter month?  Typically November is a quiet weather month with plenty of nice, fall days but it can also turn wet with plenty of snow and moisture.  Just like Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates, you never quite know what you are going to get.

Looking into the weather history books, we see that November is actually Denver’s second snowiest month, second only to March (April is third).  Historically we average 10.7 inches of snow during the month.

Click here to read our complete November preview and see what to expect for the month.