NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
200 PM MST WED JAN 02 2002
...DENVER'S WEATHER SUMMARY FOR 2001...
2001 FINALIZED AS SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL IN THE TEMPERATURE CATEGORY
AND JUST BARELY AB0VE NORMAL AS FAR AS PRECIPITATION IS CONCERNED.
TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM 101 DEGREES ON JULY 1ST DOWN TO -15 ON FEB
9TH. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR 2001 WAS 51.3 DEGREES WHICH WAS ONLY
2.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL...NOT NEAR ENOUGH TO GET INTO THE TOP 10
WARMEST YEARS. ONLY 7 NEW TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE EITHER SET OR TIED.
ONE UNUSUAL STATISTIC WAS THAT THERE WERE NO NEW DAILY MAXIMUM RECORDS
SET OR TIED. JULY 2001 FINISHED AS THE 6TH WARMEST JULY WHILE SEPTEMBER
2001 CLOSED AS THE 9TH WARMEST DENVER SEPTEMBER. THERE WERE 46 90
DEGREE DAYS DURING THE YEAR WHICH WAS 13 ABOVE NORMAL. THIS COMPARES
TO 61 90 DEGREE DAYS RECORDED DURING 2000 WHICH ESTABLISHED A NEW
RECORD FOR 90 DEGREE DAYS. IN 1999...ONLY 16 90 DEGREES WERE RECORDED.
THE NORMAL FOR 90 DEGREE DAYS FOR DENVER IS 33. THE WARMEST YEAR IN
DENVER HISTORY WAS IN 1934 WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 54.8 DEGREES
WHILE THE COLDEST YEAR WAS 1912 WITH A MEAN TEMPERATURE OF 47.6DEGREES.
FOR PRECIPITATION...THE YEAR FINISHED ABOVE NORMAL WITH A TOTAL OF
16.55 INCHES COLLECTED IN THE RAIN BUCKET. THIS WAS 0.44 INCH ABOVE
NORMAL. JULY 2001 WENT INTO THE RECORD BOOKS AS THE 5TH WETTEST DENVER
JULY...WHILE OCTOBER WAS THE 5TH DRIEST AND DECEMBER BECAME THE 9TH
DRIEST. THE WETTEST DENVER YEAR WAS 1967 WITH 23.31 INCHES AND THE
DRIEST YEAR WAS 1954 WITH 7.51 INCHES.
SNOWFALL FOR THE CALENDER YEAR WAS ON THE DISMAL SIDE WITH ONLY 53.0
INCHES RECORDED. THIS IS 7.3 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. WORSE YET...FOR
THE SEASON SO FAR ...JULY 2001-DECEMBER 2001...ONLY 8.4 INCHES HAVE
BEEN RECORDED WHICH IS 13.3 INCHES BELOW THE NORMAL OF 21.7 INCHES.
BLIZZARD LIKE CONDITIONS MOVED THROUGH THE DENVER METRO AREA BETWEEN
APRIL 10-11 DUMPING 10 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE FORMER STAPLETON
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. ADJACENT TO DENVER...THIS SAME STORM PILED UP
18 INCHES OF SNOW IN AURORA AND WITH THE STRONG WINDS...DRIFTS UP TO
5 FEET WERE MEASURED.
ON JUNE 2OTH...SEVERE WEATHER POUNDED THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
UP TO 2 INCH HAIL WAS OBSERVED CREATING EXTENSIVE DAMAGE ON AND NEAR
THE AIRPORT. LUCKILY THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF TORNADOES WITH THIS
SEVERE WEATHER EVENT. THERE WERE 7 OTHER OCCURENCES OF HAIL AT THE
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...BUT NO SEVERE HAIL REPORTED (HAIL
SIZE GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 3/4 INCH) AN UNUSUAL STATISTICE WAS
THAT THERE WERE 35 DAYS WITH HEAVY/DENSE FOG WHERE THE VISIBILITY IS
1/4 MILE OR LESS. THIS WAS 25 DAYS ABOVE NORMAL. 62 THUNDERSTORMS
WERE OBSERVED WHICH WAS 20 ABOVE NORMAL. THE PEAK WIND GUST DURING
THE YEAR WAS 61 MPH RECORDED ON AUGUST 20TH.
*********************************************************************
...DENVER WEATHER STATISTICS FOR 2001...
----------TEMPERATURE--------- PCPN SNOW HEATING COOLING
AVG AVG MONTH MONTH EXTREMES FALL DEGREE DEGREE
MAX MIN AVG NORM HIGH LOW DAYS DAYS
JAN 41.9 18.1 30.0 28.2 67 4 0.78 8.7 1079 0 JAN
FEB 39.4 17.2 28.3 32.3 57 -15 0.64 10.6 1021 0 FEB
MAR 51.2 28.3 39.8 38.0 67 16 1.19 6.7 775 0 MAR
APR 62.9 36.2 49.6 46.8 79 23 1.28 11.7 455 0 APR
MAY 69.7 44.4 57.1 55.9 85 31 3.74 7.2 256 18 MAY
JUN 84.2 54.5 69.4 67.0 98 41 1.53 0.0 46 184 JUN
JUL 90.7 62.7 76.7 72.1 101 57 4.75 0.0 0 373 JUL
AUG 87.2 59.4 73.3 69.8 95 50 0.71 0.0 4 269 AUG
SEP 81.5 52.0 66.8 61.0 92 39 0.99 0.0 65 125 SEP
OCT 66.0 36.9 51.5 50.2 84 21 0.08 1.0 416 5 OCT
NOV 54.0 27.7 40.9 37.6 72 -2 0.72 4.2 717 0 NOV
DEC 43.5 19.9 31.7 29.6 57 9 0.14 2.9 1026 0 DEC
ANN 64.4 38.1 51.3 48.9 101 -15 16.55 53.0 5860 974 ANN
***NOTE: OFFICIALLY BOTH SNOWFALL AND HEATING DEGREE DAYS ARE TOTALED ON
A SEASONAL BASIS (JUL 1 TO JUN 30)...NOT ON A YEARLY BASIS (JAN 1 TO DEC
31)***
AVERAGE HIGH FOR THE YEAR 64.4 NORMAL 63.9 DEPARTURE PLUS 0.5
AVERAGE LOW FOR THE YEAR 38.1 NORMAL 33.9 DEPARTURE PLUS 4.2
AVERAGE 2001 TEMPERATURE 51.3 NORMAL 48.9 DEPARTURE PLUS 2.4
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE 101 ON JUL 1ST
LOWEST TEMPERATURE -15 ON FEB 9TH
DAYS WITH MAX 90 OR ABOVE 46 NORMAL 33 DEPARTURE PLUS 13
DAYS WITH MAX 32 OR BELOW 20 NORMAL 22 DEPARTURE MINUS 2
DAYS WITH MIN 32 OR BELOW 159 NORMAL 156 DEPARTURE PLUS 3
DAYS WITH MIN 0 OR BELOW 4 NORMAL 9 DEPARTURE MINUS 5
TEMPERATURE RECORDS....
NUMBER OF DAILY MAXIMUMS TIED OR ESTABLISHED......... 0
NUMBER OF DAILY MINIMUMS TIED OR ESTABLISHED......... 2
NUMBER OF DAILY LOW MAXIMUMS TIED OR ESTABLISHED..... 0
NUMBER OF DAILY HIGH MINIMUMS TIED OR ESTABLISHED.... 5
COOLING DEGREE DAYS....
YEARLY TOTAL.... 974 NORMAL.... 534 DEPARTURE PLUS 440
HEATING DEGREE DAYS.... **SEE NOTE ABOVE FOR DATES**
JUL 1998 - JUN 1999 TOTAL 5710 NORMAL 6363 DEPARTURE MINUS 653
JUL 1999 - JUN 2000 TOTAL 5282 NORMAL 6363 DEPARTURE MINUS 1081
JUL 2000 - JUN 2001 TOTAL 6438 NORMAL 6363 DEPARTURE PLUS 75
JAN 2001 - JUN 2001 TOTAL 3632 NORMAL 3812 DEPARTURE MINUS 180
JUL 2001 - DEC 2001 TOTAL 2228 NORMAL 2551 DEPARTURE MINUS 323
JAN 2001 - DEC 2001 TOTAL 5860 NORMAL 6363 DEPARTURE MINUS 503
LAST FREEZE OF THE SPRING..05/21/01 05/13/00 05/17/99
FIRST FREEZE OF THE FALL...10/05/01 09/22/00 09/28/99
LAST SNOW OF THE SPRING....05/21/01 05/18/00 05/11/99
FIRST SNOW OF THE FALL.....10/05/01 09/24/00 09/28/99
FIRST 90 DEGREE DAY........06/10/01 05/29/00 06/25/99
LAST 90 DEGREE DAY.........09/04/01 09/17/00 08/27/99
PRECIPITATION (IN INCHES)....
YEARLY TOTAL.......... 16.55 NORMAL 16.11 DEPARTURE PLUS 0.44
DAYS WITH .01 OR GREATER 86 NORMAL 89 DEPARTURE MINUS 3
GREATEST IN 24 HOURS... 1.44 ON JUL 23RD
SNOWFALL (IN INCHES).... **SEE NOTE ABOVE FOR DATES**
**NOTE: SNOWFALL IS MEASURED AT THE COOPERATIVE WEATHER SITE AT THE
FORMER STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
JAN - DEC 2000 37.3 NORMAL 60.3 DEPARTURE MINUS 23.0
GREATEST IN 24 HOURS 5.5 NOV 6TH
GREATEST DEPTH 3 NOV 12TH
JUL - DEC 2000 13.4 NORMAL 21.7 DEPARTURE MINUS 8.3
GREATEST IN 24 HOURS 5.5 NOV 6TH
GREATEST DEPTH 3 NOV 12TH
JAN - DEC 2001 53.0 NORMAL 60.3 DEPARTURE MINUS 7.3
GREATEST IN 24 HOURS 9.5 APR 10-11TH
GREATEST DEPTH 9 NOV 11TH
JUL - DEC 2001 8.4 NORMAL 21.7 DEPARTURE MINUS 13.3
GREATEST IN 24 HOURS 2.2 NOV 7-8TH
GREATEST DEPTH 2 DEC 8TH 16TH
WINDS (IN MILES PER HOUR)....
AVERAGE SPEED 9.9 NORMAL 8.6 DEPARTURE PLUS 1.3
PEAK GUST 61 AUG 20TH
PEAK GUST DIRECTION (290 - WEST NORTHWEST)
SEA LEVEL PRESSURE (IN INCHES OF MERCURY)....
HIGHEST 30.66 ON NOV 8TH
LOWEST 29.22 ON APR 6TH
MISCELLANEOUS WEATHER....
DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORMS 62 NORMAL 42 DEPARTURE PLUS 20
DAYS WITH HEAVY FOG 35 NORMAL 10 DEPARTURE PLUS 25
PERCENT OF POSSIBLE SUNSHINE 72 NORMAL 69 DEPARTURE PLUS 3
DAYS WITH HAIL 8 NORMAL N/A
DAYS WITH TORNADO/FUNNEL CLOUD 0 NORMAL N/A
BENTON
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