A Preview of Denver's March Weather - Lots of Changes

March in Denver typically means frequent and rapid weather changes. The days grow longer and we start enjoying more sunshine and sometimes summer-like weather. However, on occasion arctic air masses can still force their way south into Colorado dropping temperatures quickly and markedly.

These changes are due to Marchs' “in between” status – elements during the month have much in common with winter and spring. In addition to arctic fronts, Pacific storms frequently move across Colorado from the west and warm moist air streams up from the Gulf of Mexico northeastward into the state. When these cold fronts collide with the warmer air masses the result can be some crazy weather.

As most locals know, March is Denver's snowiest month of the year accounting for about 20% of our annual snowfall. It also is our fifth coldest month.

However, thanks to the rapid changes we experience, the snow doesn’t usually stick on the ground for long thanks to lots of sunshine and moderate temperatures. March also usually has the first spring thunderstorms and strong Chinook winds do still make their way on a few days, particularly near the foothills.

Our March weather calendar has many examples of this changeable weather but one of the most notable occurred on March 8, 1992. The morning saw sunny skies and a high temperature of 52 degrees at midday. By the afternoon though, things changed rapidly as tornadoes and thunderstorms with hail developed across the northeast plains, including the Denver Metro area. This was followed by a Canadian cold front that hit in the late afternoon that caused temperatures to drop and blizzard conditions to set in along the Front Range. By the time it was done, 12.4 inches of snow had fallen at Stapleton International Airport and even higher amounts reported across the greater metro area.

More recently, on March 17, 2003 a tornado struck near Bennett when air temperatures were only in the 40’s. Later that day the second strongest winter storm in Denver history began. From March 17th to the 20th 31.8 inches of snow was recorded at Stapleton. A whopping 87.5 inches was recorded near Rollinsville just west of Denver in the foothills. Being a spring storm, this was a very wet storm compared to what we normally receive with an 8 to 1 ratio – i.e. 8 inches of snow yielded 1 inch of moisture. Typically in Colorado we average around a 10 to 1 ratio. March 2003 became the snowiest March in Denver history with 35.2 inches.

However we also have seen dry Marches on occasion including 0.3 inches of snow in 1883, 0.4 inches in 1911 and 1.8 inches in 2004. March 2004 became the second driest March in Denver history recording only 0.14 inches of moisture; the driest was in 1908 when only 0.11 inches was measured.

Severe weather can and does occur in March and you don't have to look any farther than March 28th, 2007 when a tornado ripped through Holly, Colorado. That storm brought Colorado's first tornado casualties since 1960 and serves as a stark reminder that severe weather can hit early in the year. Indeed, as we enter the severe weather season we would remind everyone that tornadoes have been recorded in nine months out of the year in Colorado. Further, statistics show that Adams County actually has the second most tornadoes of any county in the state (next to Weld). Granted most of those occur in the rural eastern portion of the county but it serves to illustrate the fact we live at the western edge of Tornado Alley and need to be aware of the danger.

March 2009 started off very dry as we had only recorded 0.12 inch of precipitation by March 25th and the month was on pace to be the second driest March on record. Mother Nature had other plans and the now infamous March Blizzard of 2009 struck on the 26th. A total of 8.3 inches of snow fell from the event - 7.8 inches on the 26th and 0.5 inch on the 27th as measured at DIA. That snow equated to 0.63 inch precipitation on the 26th and 0.02 inch on the 27th which pushed us a long ways away from the top 10 driest. In fact, the 0.63 inch on the 26th broke the old 24 hour precipitation record of 0.46 inch set in 1899. Thornton recorded a bit more snow and precipitation during that event with 11.4 inches recorded over the two days and 0.68 inch precipitation. 

MARCH: DENVER'S TOP 5 COLDEST MONTHS(MEAN TEMPERATURES):
26.4 degrees 1912
28.0 degrees 1924
29.0 degrees 1965
29.8 degrees 1906
32.2 degrees 1891 AND 1969

MARCH: DENVER'S TOP 5 WARMEST MONTHS(MEAN TEMPERATURES):
50.4 degrees 1910
49.2 degrees 2012
47.2 degrees 1907
47.1 degrees 1986
47.0 degrees 1918

MARCH: DENVER'S SNOWIEST
35.2 inches 2003
32.5 inches 1944
31.3 inches 1891
30.5 inches 1983
29.2 inches 1961

MARCH: DENVER'S LEAST SNOWIEST
T inches 2012
0.3 inches 1883
0.4 inches 1911
0.5 inches 1885
1.1 inches 1887
1.8 inches 2004

March 2023 Outlook

The latest long term outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center would indicate a cool, possibly wetter than normal March this year. The agency's outlooks give a slightly above normal chance for below normal temperatures for much of the state. Similarly, it gives the western two thirds of Colorado a slightly above average chances of seeing above normal levels of precipitation.

For More Information

Temperature Normals and Extremes for March

Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for March

MARCH AVERAGE STATISTICS * Normals & Means, 1981 - 2010
TEMPERATURE
AVERAGE HIGH	54.4
AVERAGE LOW	26.4
MONTHLY MEAN	40.4
DAYS WITH HIGH 90 OR ABOVE	0
DAYS WITH HIGH 32 OR BELOW	2
DAYS WITH LOW 32 OR BELOW	24
DAYS WITH LOWS ZERO OR BELOW	0
PRECIPITATION
MONTHLY MEAN	0.92 INCHES
DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION	6
AVERAGE SNOWFALL	10.7 INCHES (1st SNOWIEST MONTH)
DAYS WITH 1.0 INCH OR MORE SNOWFALL	4
MISCELLANEOUS MARCH AVERAGES
HEATING DEGREE DAYS	763
COOLING DEGREES DAYS	0
WIND SPEED (MPH)	9.7
WIND DIRECTION	SOUTH
DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORMS	AVERAGE IS LESS THAN ONE
DAYS WITH DENSE FOG	1
PERCENT OF SUNSHINE POSSIBLE	69
MARCH EXTREMES
RECORD HIGH	84 DEGREES ON 3/26/71
RECORD LOW	-11 DEGREES ON 3/28/1886
WARMEST	50.4 IN 1910
COLDEST	26.4 DEGREES IN 1912
WETTEST	4.56 INCHES IN 1983
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR MOISTURE	2.79 INCHES IN 1983
DRIEST	0.11 INCH IN 1908
SNOWIEST	35.2 INCHES IN 2003
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR SNOWFALL	22.9 INCHES IN 2003
LEAST SNOWIEST	0.3 IN 1970 AND 1883

* Historical weather statistics gathered from the National Weather Service's Denver / Boulder forecast office data archives.