Sunday brings another record day; March 2012 likely to go into record books

Record setting high temperatures in Thornton.
March 2012 is on track to enter the record books as one of the warmest, driest and least snowiest since record-keeping began.

Another unseasonably mild day led to another high temperature record being tied on Sunday.  As the unseasonably warm weather continues, March 2012 is almost certain to go into the record books on a number of marks.

The temperature at Denver International Airport reached 75 degrees at 4:05pm Sunday afternoon.  This tied the record high temperature for the date last set in 1998.  This is far and above the normal for the date of 57 degrees.

Here in Thornton we were a bit cooler and reached a high temperature of 72.3 degrees.

The record-tying mark is the fifth time so far this month that the record high temperature was tied or broken.  Other days with record highs this month:

  • 76 degrees on March 23, which tied the old record of 76 set in 1967
  • 76 degrees on March 17, which broke the old record of 75 set in 1974
  • 75 degrees on March 16, which broke the old record of 74 set just one year ago in 2011
  • 74 degrees on March 13, which tied the old record of 74 set in 2007 and previous years

Officially Denver has recorded only a trace of snow this month and a scant 0.03 inch of precipitation.  Given the forecast for the coming week, it is likely the month will end with those totals.  If it does, March 2012 will go into the history books as the least snowiest and driest March on record.

In terms of temperatures, Denver’s overall average temperature for the month so far is at 47.0 degrees.  That would put the month in a tie for the fourth warmest March on record.  However with temperatures expected to remain unseasonably warm through the week, there is a good chance we will climb the ‘top 10’ list even further.

Click here for a list of the ‘top 10’ Marches.

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