November 2010 was most notable not for what weather condition occurred but rather for what it lacked – snow. Historically November is Denver’s second snowiest month but 2010 saw us receive very little of the white stuff as we start out the season far behind where we average.
At the official Denver weather monitoring station at Denver International Airport a mere 1.5 inches of the white stuff was recorded. That is 9.2 inches below the historical November average of 10.7 inches. Despite that, the month fell short of the top 10 least snowiest Novembers as number 10 on that list is 1971 with 1.4 inches. Given that no snow was recorded in September or October, the 2010 snow season is off to a dismal start at more than 15 inches below normal.
In terms of precipitation, only 0.5 inch was collected in the rain bucket – barely more than half of the normal of 0.98 inch. While dry, it wasn’t enough to put the month into top 10 driest November status. Three years in Denver history have recorded only a trace of precipitation and the number 10 slot is held by 1989 when only 0.15 inch of precipitation was recorded. No precipitation or snowfall records were set or tied during the month.
Here in Thornton we fared drier than the official Denver tallies on all fronts. We recorded only 1.14 inches of snow and 0.33 inch of precipitation.
Temperature-wise Denver ended the month warmer than normal with an average temperature of 38.3 degrees. This was 0.8 degrees above the normal of 37.5 degrees. Temperatures ranged from a high of 77 degrees on the 6th down to a low of 4 degrees on the 25th. There were 24 days with low temperatures below the freezing mark which is normal. On only one day, the 29th, did we fail to hit a high temperature of at least freezing as the thermometer only climbed to 31 degrees that day. No temperature records were set or tied during the month.
Overall Thornton’s average temperature for the month was cooler than Denver’s. The average temperature was 36.8 degrees with the warmest day hitting 78.7 degrees and the lowest temperature being 9.0 degrees.
Wind is of course a fact of life on the plains and November 2010 did set a new peak wind gust for the month of 55 mph on the 16th. This easily broke the old record of 49 mph set in 1990.
Click here to view the 2010 Thornton Climate Summary.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
745 AM MST FRI DEC 3 2010
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...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2010...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2010
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 80 11/08/2006
LOW -18 11/29/1877
HIGHEST 77 11/06 79 -2 77 11/05
LOWEST 4 11/25 -18 22 16 11/16
AVG. MAXIMUM 52.6 51.5 1.1 56.4
AVG. MINIMUM 24.0 23.5 0.5 28.8
MEAN 38.3 37.5 0.8 42.6
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX = .01 6 5.6 0.4 3
DAYS >= .10 2 MM MM 3
DAYS >= .50 0 MM MM 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0 MM MM 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.15 11/16 TO 11/16 0.33 11/14 TO 11/15
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 42.6 1946
TOTALS 1.5 10.7
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 793 826 -33 664
SINCE 7/1 1128 1408 -280 1479
COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0
SINCE 1/1 870 696 174 533
FREEZE DATES
RECORD
EARLIEST 09/08/1962
LATEST 06/08/2007
EARLIEST 10/07
LATEST 05/05
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WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.7
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 2/228
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 45/310 DATE 11/16
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 55/320 DATE 11/16
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 9
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 17
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 4
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 51
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 1
LIGHT RAIN 2 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 4
LIGHT SNOW 9 SLEET 0
FOG 13 FOG W/VIS