Preview of Denver's December Weather

December brings with it the official start to winter and the month usually brings with it our first real taste of Arctic temperatures. Precipitation can be hit or miss with monster snowstorms possible but we have also seen starkly dry years.

Looking into December, winter officially starts on the 21st at 10:11am MST. The month normally sees temps start dropping as we head into January and normally December doesnt bring prolonged cold spells. However, two of our longest cold spells on record did occur during December.

In 1983 the temperature dropped to below zero on the 20th and did not return to above zero until Christmas Day that year - 115 straight hours of sub-zero temps! Seven years later in 1990, on December 22nd, we started an 85 hour period with below zero temperatures and on the 22nd we actually got down to 25 degrees below! That tied a record low temperature for Denver (with December 24, 1876).

Overall December's monthly mean temperature of 30.0 degrees (1981 - 2010 averages) makes it our coldest month.  Average daytime high temperatures are relatively stable ranging from an average high of 45 degrees on the first down to 43 degrees on the 31st.  Low temperatures average 19 degrees on the first down to 17 degrees at the end of the month. 

Snow is always on everyones mind this time of year but December is only our 3rd snowiest month behind March and November with an average of 8.5 inches of the white stuff. But, anyone who has been around for long knows that some of our most memorable snow storms have occurred during December.

The heaviest and longest snowstorm in Denver history occurred in December 1913.  From the 1st to the 5th that year, an amazing 45.7 inches of snow was dumped bringing the city to a halt for weeks. 37 inches of that total was recorded on the 4th and 5th alone.

Many folks will remember the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 1982 - one of the most vicious storms in our history. Click here for a look back at this infamous storm. Snow began falling around mid-day Christmas Eve and 24 hours later, 23.6 inches of snow had fallen at the old Stapleton International Airport and the city was crippled for days while we dug out.

More recently, everyone will certainly remember December 2006 when we had our third snowiest December ever. Two significant storms struck within a week of each other dumping a total of 27.7 inches of snow in Denver. The north metro area actually was hit a bit harder as we measured 32.6 inches over the same period in Thornton. Coupled with a few smaller storms during the month, Thornton had 33.5 inches of snow for the entire month while the National Weather Service measured 29.4 at Stapleton. These storm systems were a precursor to what was to come for the first half of January 2007 when temperatures plummeted and the snow that had fallen in December stayed on the streets and in our yards until the middle of January! Click here to see the December 2006 climate summary.

Denver`s coldest Decembers (mean temperatures):
17.5 degrees 1983 ***coldest month in Denver history
21.2 degrees 1909
22.1 degrees 1878
22.9 degrees 1873
23.2 degrees 1913

Denver`s warmest Decembers (mean temperatures):
43.8 degrees 1933
41.2 degrees 1980
40.8 degrees 1939
40.5 degrees 1889
39.8 degrees 1906

Denver`s snowiest Decembers:
57.4 inches 1913
30.8 inches 1973
29.4 inches 2006
27.1 inches 1981
21.5 inches 1987

Denver`s least snowy Decembers:
0.0 inches 1881 Denver's least snowy December
T inches 1905, 1906, 2002
0.1 inches 1928
0.4 inches 1890

December 2022 Outlook

The long-term outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center for December do not point to any notable overriding influences to conditions on the Front Range. The agency outlooks give us equal chances of at, below or above normal temperatures. Similarly, equal chances for at, below or above normal levels of precipitation are forecast.

For More Information

Temperature Normals and Extremes for December

Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for December

DECEMBER AVERAGE STATISTICS * Normals & Means, 1981 - 2010
TEMPERATURE
AVERAGE HIGH	42.8
AVERAGE LOW	17.1
MONTHLY MEAN	30.0
DAYS WITH HIGH 90 OR ABOVE	0
DAYS WITH HIGH 32 OR BELOW	6 (5.5)
DAYS WITH LOW 32 OR BELOW	29 (29.4)
DAYS WITH LOWS ZERO OR BELOW	2 (1.7)
PRECIPITATION
MONTHLY MEAN	0.35 INCH
DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION	4 (4.1)
AVERAGE SNOWFALL	8.5 INCHES (3RD SNOWIEST MONTH)
DAYS WITH 1.0 INCH OR MORE SNOWFALL	3
MISCELLANEOUS DECEMBER AVERAGES
HEATING DEGREE DAYS	1086
COOLING DEGREES DAYS	0
WIND SPEED (MPH)	8.4
WIND DIRECTION	SOUTH
DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORMS	0
DAYS WITH DENSE FOG	1
PERCENT OF SUNSHINE POSSIBLE	67
DECEMBER EXTREMES
RECORD HIGH	79 DEGREES ON 12/5/1939
RECORD LOW	-25 DEGREES ON 12/22/1990 AND 12/24/1876
WARMEST	43.8 DEGREES IN 1933
COLDEST	17.5 DEGREES IN 1983
WETTEST	5.21 INCHES IN 1913
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR MOISTURE	2.29 INCHES IN 1913 (4TH - 5TH)
DRIEST	0 INCHES IN 1991 (DRIEST MONTH IN HISTORY)
SNOWIEST	57.4 INCHES IN 1913 (SNOWIEST MONTH IN HISTORY)
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR SNOWFALL	23.6 INCHES IN 1983 (24TH) (24 HOUR RECORD)
LEAST SNOWIEST	0.0 IN 1881 TRACE AMOUNTS RECORDED IN 1905, 1906, 2002

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