Much to our dismay we closed out December the same way we did the month prior – warmer and drier than average. Snowfall continues to elude us this season as we have recorded a mere 4.8 inches thus far which is 20.8 inches below normal.
For the month of December the story was the precipitation, or rather the lack thereof. A mere 0.22 inch was officially recorded at Denver International Airport and Thornton was only slightly better at 0.28 inch. This is far below the normal of 0.63 inch for Denver.
The majority of that precipitation was during the last two days of the month when a very cold and quick snowstorm moved through Colorado. Were it not for that Denver would have wrapped up the month as the 2nd driest December on record. Instead the little bit of precipitation that was recorded dropped it out of ‘top 10 driest’ consideration.
The snow that did fall on the 30th and 31st did not amount to a lot – officially 3.3 inches at DIA. Thornton was only slightly better with 3.8 inches. This is again far below the historical average of 8.7 inches for December.
The 2010 – 2011 snow season thus far has been dismal. Only one other snow season was worse up to this point and that was during the 1888 to 1889 season 122 years ago!
Temperature wise Denver recorded an average temperature of 34.3 degrees. This was 4.0 degrees above the normal of 30.3 degrees. Thornton was only slightly cooler with an average temperature of 33.9 degrees for the month. Despite the relatively warm temperatures the month did not qualify for ‘top 10 warmest’ status.
Denver’s official temperatures ranged from a high of 70 degrees on the 14th down to a low of zero degrees on the 31st. Here in Thornton our maximum of 70.2 degrees was virtually identical and our lowest temperature was 2.2 degrees.
Two weather records were set. On the 3rd of the month we tied the record high for the date of 69 degrees last set in 1885. The 70 degrees recorded on the 14th broke the old record high for that date of 69 degrees that was set in 1924.
Below is a complete look at the official Denver weather statistics for December 2010. Click here to view the monthly climate summary for Thornton.
...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 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 79 12/05/1939
LOW -25 12/22/1990
12/24/1876
HIGHEST 70 12/14 79 -9 59 12/21
12/01
LOWEST 0 12/31 -25 25 -17 12/09
AVG. MAXIMUM 48.9 44.1 4.8 36.4
AVG. MINIMUM 19.6 16.4 3.2 11.9
MEAN 34.3 30.3 4.0 24.1
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX <= 32 2 5.3 -3.3 15
DAYS MIN <= 32 28 29.2 -1.2 31
DAYS MIN <= 0 1 2.8 -1.8 6
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 5.21 1913
MINIMUM 0.00 1881
TOTALS 0.22 0.63 -0.41 0.45
DAILY AVG. 0.01 0.02 -0.01 0.01
DAYS >= .01 2 5.3 -3.3 7
DAYS >= .10 2 MM MM 2
DAYS >= .50 0 MM MM 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0 MM MM 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.21 12/30 TO 12/31 0.20 12/22 TO 12/23
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 57.4 1913
TOTALS 2.2 8.7
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 944 1078 -134 1260
SINCE 7/1 2072 2486 -414 2739
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
.................................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 8.7 8.8
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 1/195 MM
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 32/340 DATE 12/07 43/220 12/13
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 40/180 DATE 12/31 49/220 12/13
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 1
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 26
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 4
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 50
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 0
LIGHT RAIN 1 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 1
LIGHT SNOW 4 SLEET 0
FOG 5 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 2
HAZE 5
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.