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.
Thornton residents have begun digging out from the major winter storm that deposited an extraordinary amount of snow on the city. In the end, the storm will go into the record books as the biggest February snowstorm in Denver history.
As officially recorded at Denver International Airport, Denver recorded 15.9 inches of snow from the storm system. This handily broke the old single storm February record of 14.1 inches set in 1912.
Further, February 2012 now enters the history books as the 10th snowiest February ever recorded in Denver. With more than three weeks to go, it is possible we will climb the top 10 list even further.
The 12.5″ DIA saw yesterday set a new single day record for February 3rd beating the old record for the date of 9.5″ set in 1932. This also is the biggest single day snowfall total ever recorded in Denver during February.
The snow has moved out and the sun will be shining soon as residents begin digging out from a record-setting snowstorm. Here is Thornton we recorded 13.8″ of snowfall and that was actually one of the lower totals across northeastern Colorado. It was however Thornton’s biggest snowstorm since October 2009 when we recorded 14.1″ from a late month event.
Snow began falling Thursday evening and continued through the night, all through the day Friday and into Saturday morning. By this morning most of the metro area was only seeing a few flakes falling and by the end of the day the sun will return.
Below is a time lapse video from our east facing webcam. It covers from 4:00pm on Thursday, February 2 to 6:00am on Saturday, February 4 compressing that period into a little more than one minute.
A circular formation on the bottom of a cloud punctuates Thornton's sunset on Thursday, January 5, 2012. (ThorntonWeather.com)
The past week has brought some beautiful sunrises and sunsets to the Colorado Front Range. The evening of Thursday, January 5, 2012 was no exception as Thornton was treated to an amazing display.
Wave clouds are formed by atmospheric ‘waves’ of wind flowing up and down mountains. Here in Colorado we have had a pretty consistent wave cloud hovering over the Denver metro area this past week.
On Thursday evening, this cloud was present and lit up in shades of orange and red as the sun set behind the Rocky Mountains. What made the beautiful scene amazing was an unusual circular formation in the bottom of the cloud.
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Below are images we took of the clouds at about 5:20pm yesterday.
The year goes into the books as a relatively normal year with few notable events.
With 2011 now behind us we can look back at the year in weather and in doing so we note that it wasn’t a particularly eventful one. Temperatures were very close to average for the year and while it was a wet one, there weren’t any events that will remain emblazoned in our memories.
In terms of temperatures, the year saw an average temperature of 50.6 degrees as recorded at Denver’s official monitoring station at Denver International Airport. This was a negligible 0.1 degrees above normal. Thornton was slightly cooler with an average of 49.8 degrees.
Denver recorded 50 days of 90 degree or warmer temperatures but failed to reach the 100 degree mark at all. Three days including July 4th, July 31st and August 25th hit 99 degrees. Thornton saw 44 90 degree or warmer days during the year and only one hit 99 degrees (July 4th).
The mercury dipped below zero on 12 days at DIA with the coldest temperature of -17 degrees occurring on February 2nd. Here in Thornton we recorded 10 days below zero with the coldest reading coming on February 2nd when we dropped to -14.7 degrees.
While temperatures were not particularly notable, we did managed to record much more precipitation than normal. In all, DIA saw 17.31 inches which was 2.39 inches above the normal of 14.92. Thornton bested Denver’s number with 18.80 inches during the year.
The first quarter of the year saw precipitation readings slightly below normal. Then in May, the skies opened up and Denver received 4.79 inches of rain – far above the normal for the month of 2.15 inches. Most of this fell with two storms systems, one on the 11th and 12th and a second on the 17th and 18th.
June and July brought more wet weather and above normal precipitation. The monsoons during the first half of July brought rain on 9 out of 10 days from the 5th to the 14th and the month recorded 3.20 inches overall.
The last half of July and all of August were quite dry and followed by a relatively average September. October once again brought above normal precipitation, November followed with drier than normal conditions and December was wetter than average.
For the calendar year, Denver received 47.5 inches of snowfall. The biggest storm occurred on October 26th when 8.0 inches of snow fell. Thornton was slightly snowier as we received 51.0 inches of snow during 2011.
Click here to view Thornton’s 2011 climate summary. Following is the official Denver statistics for the year from the National Weather Service.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
217 PM MST SUN JAN 1 2012
...................................
...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR OF 2011...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2011
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 105 07/20/2005
08/08/1878
LOW -29 01/09/1875
HIGHEST 99 08/25 64 35 102 07/17
07/31
07/04
LOWEST -17 02/02 36 -53 -16 01/07
AVG. MAXIMUM 64.8 64.7 0.1 65.3
AVG. MINIMUM 36.4 36.3 0.1 37.0
MEAN 50.6 50.5 0.1 51.2
DAYS MAX >= 90 50 39.6 10.4 49
DAYS MAX = .01 80 79.7 0.3 71
DAYS >= .10 37 34.9 2.1 24
DAYS >= .50 10 7.6 2.4 9
DAYS >= 1.00 6 2.3 3.7 3
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 1.95 MM 12/31 TO 12/31
12/31 TO 12/31
12/31 TO 12/31
STORM TOTAL MM MM
(MM/DD(HH)) MM 12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)
12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)1
12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)1
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL MM 5
24 HR TOTAL MM
SNOW DEPTH MM MM
TOTALS 47.5 MM MM 27.8
LIQUID EQUIV MM MM MM MM
SINCE 7/1 29.5 MM MM 4.8
LIQUID 7/1 MM MM MM MM
SNOWDEPTH AVG. 0 MM MM 0
DAYS >= TRACE 40 MM MM 42
DAYS >= 1.0 16 MM MM 10
GREATEST
SNOW DEPTH 7 01/11 8 03/24
01/10
24 HR TOTAL 8.0 11/26 12/31 TO 12/31
12/31 TO 12/31
12/31 TO 12/31
STORM TOTAL MM MM
(MM/DD(HH)) MM 12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)
12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)1
12/31(00) TO 12/31(00)1
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 6069 6059 10 5774
SINCE 7/1 MM 2463 MM 2072
COOLING TOTAL 964 769 195 870
SINCE 1/1 964 769 195 870
FREEZE DATES
RECORD
EARLIEST 09/08/1962
LATEST 06/08/2007
EARLIEST 10/07
LATEST 05/05
..................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.9
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 2/211
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 51/210 DATE 07/13
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 72/200 DATE 06/29
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.50
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 87
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 232
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 46
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 49
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 51 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 11 RAIN 22
LIGHT RAIN 76 FREEZING RAIN 1
LT FREEZING RAIN 3 HAIL 8
HEAVY SNOW 7 SNOW 21
LIGHT SNOW 39 SLEET 0
FOG 92 FOG W/VIS
December 2011 will go into the books as a cold and snowy month. (ThorntonWeather.com)
Thornton closed out 2011 with a month that while not necessarily historical, brought significant weather to the area. Snow was one of the bigger stories as we piled up a good bit of the white stuff and temperatures were below normal for the month.
December 2011 came in like a lion as a cold front and associated upper level storm arrived during the first week of the month. Denver International Airport recorded 9.2 inches of snow during the period while here in Thornton we saw 10.7 inches. Temperatures were a bone chilling 17.2 degrees below normal during that time.
The middle of the month saw the weather moderate and return to more seasonal conditions. Temperatures overall however remained slightly below average.
With the third week of the month we saw another snowstorm arrive on the 21st and 22nd. Denver recorded 7.3 inches of snow. Thornton once again saw higher totals as we measured 9.1 inches.
The constant snow cover kept temperatures down through the first few weeks of the month and for a time it looked like the month could make it into the books as one of the coldest on record. A late month warming trend however changed that situation.
In the end, December 2011’s average temperature was 26.6 degrees. While this was 3.4 degrees below normal, it pushed the month out of ‘top 10 coldest’ contention.
The snow during the month, while also not record setting, was significant. Denver wrapped up December with 16.5 inches – nearly double the 8.5 inch December average. For the season to date we stood at 29.5 inches giving us a good start toward the 53.5 inch seasonal average.
In terms of precipitation, 0.78 inches was recorded in Denver which was 0.47 inch above normal.
At DIA, temperatures ranged from a high of 58 degrees on the 18th down to a low of -5 degrees on the 6th. Thornton saw similar marks with a high of 59.7 degrees, also on the 18th, and a low of -6.5 degrees on the 6th.
Mother Nature did close out the month and 2011 with a significant windstorm across northeastern Colorado. The New Year’s Eve event saw DIA record a 59mph wind gust and Thornton saw 45mph. Many other areas saw much higher speeds – click here for a summary of the event.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
335 PM MST TUE JAN 3 2012
...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2011...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2012
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 58 12/18 79 -21 70 12/14
LOWEST -5 12/06 -25 20 0 12/31
AVG. MAXIMUM 38.5 42.8 -4.3 48.9
AVG. MINIMUM 14.8 17.1 -2.3 19.6
MEAN 26.6 30.0 -3.4 34.3
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX <= 32 7 5.8 1.2 2
DAYS MIN <= 32 30 29.4 0.6 28
DAYS MIN <= 0 2 2.0 0.0 1
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 5.21 1913
MINIMUM 0.00 1881
TOTALS 0.78 0.31 0.47 0.22
DAILY AVG. 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.01
DAYS >= .01 6 4.1 1.9 2
DAYS >= .10 3 1.1 1.9 2
DAYS >= .50 0 0.1 -0.1 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0 0.0 0.0 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.48 12/21 TO 12/22 12/30 TO 12/31
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 57.4 1913
TOTALS 16.5 8.5
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 1182 1086 96 944
SINCE 7/1 2434 2463 -29 2072
COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0
SINCE 1/1 964 769 195 870
FREEZE DATES
RECORD
EARLIEST 09/08/1962
LATEST 06/08/2007
EARLIEST 10/07
LATEST 05/05
..................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.4
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 4/224
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 45/270 DATE 12/31
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 59/270 DATE 12/31
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.40
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 15
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 12
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 4
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 62
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 0
LIGHT RAIN 0 FREEZING RAIN 1
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 5
LIGHT SNOW 6 SLEET 0
FOG 11 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 3
HAZE 4
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.
A windstorm pummeled northeastern Colorado on New Year's Eve 2011.
Northeastern Colorado closed out 2011 with pummeling high winds on New Year’s Eve. Wind gusts of tropical and hurricane storm strength slammed into the region causing damage and claiming one life.
In the Denver metro area gusts approaching 50mph were common while areas in the foothills and mountains to the west and on the plains to the northeast saw much higher speeds. Here in Thornton we recorded a maximum gust of 44.9mph in the predawn hours.
Post-Storm Summary of the New Year’s Eve Windstorm
A fast moving upper level storm system, along with a deep low pressure system over Nebraska and high pressure building over Utah, combined to create a powerful windstorm across Northeast and North Central Colorado on December 31st. The high wind event began in the mountains after midnight Friday night, and then spread across the plains early Saturday morning. The height of the windstorm on the plains occurred around mid day when numerous gusts between 60 and 80 mph were reported.
The strong winds produced damage to fences and some roofs, and also knocked down trees resulting in power outages to approximately 19,000 residents. Some trucks were also blown off the road, and 1 fatality occurred due to a flying tree limb on U.S. Highway 36 north of Boulder.
Visibilities over the northeast corner of the state were also reduced significantly by a combination of blowing dust and blowing snow.
The following is a list by county of maximum wind gusts associated with this powerful windstorm…
Grand…
Berthoud Pass 94 MPH
11 N Kremmling 80 MPH
9 S Fraser 80 MPH
Jefferson…
3 SSE Pinecliffe 111 MPH
3 S Golden 86 MPH
Highway 72 and 93 Junction 79 MPH
National Wind Technology Center 77 MPH
3 NNW Morrison 76 MPH
4 S Rocky Flats 73 MPH
2 E Golden 67 MPH
2 E Northeast Lakewood 64 MPH
2 ENE Lakewood 64 MPH
3 W Conifer 62 MPH
Wheat Ridge 55 MPH
Larimer…
4 E Loveland 73 MPH
Natural Fort Rest Area 71 MPH
5 NW Fort Collins 67 MPH
3 NE Loveland 67 MPH
Wellington 63 MPH
4 E Fort Collins 63 MPH
Virginia Dale 62 MPH
Fort Collins 57 MPH
Lincoln…
3 W Cedar Point 80 MPH
Limon Airport 74 MPH
Weld…
4 ENE Eaton 80 MPH
3 NNW Cornish 79 MPH
2 NNW New Raymer 77 MPH
10 NE Pawnee Buttes 74 MPH
Briggsdale 72 MPH
9 NNE Briggsdale 72 MPH
7 N Rockport 70 MPH
Greeley Airport 67 MPH
4 ENE Severance 63 MPH
Eaton 63 MPH
1 N Greeley 62 MPH
6 E Berthoud 62 MPH
2 W Keenesburg 58 MPH
Milliken 56 MPH
12/31/11 - Here is surface pressure analysis (light blue lines) and infrared satellite image at 12 PM MST near the height of the windstorm. Note the large difference in pressure between the surface low pressure over southeast Nebraska and high pressure centered over southern Idaho, and the resulting tight gradient across Colorado. This is a key feature in windstorms across the Front Range and High Plains. (NWS)12/31/11 - A 6 hour model forecast of 700 mb winds (approximately 10,000 ft MSL) and surface pressure. 700 mb wind strength is noted by flags (50kts) plus barbs (10kts for full & 5kts for half). Stronger downslope flow and large scale subsidence which occurred in this storm can bring these stronger winds aloft down to the surface. (NWS)12/31/11 - A surface plot of weather stations across the region during the windstorm. This image was taken at 1 PM MST, when the maximum winds were spreading across the northeast plains of Colorado. At this time, the strongest corridor of winds stretched from Sterling (gusting to 59 kts or 68 mph), to Akron (gusting to 63 kts or 72 mph) to Burlington (gusting to 66 kts or 76 mph). (NWS)
Recent snows have put Denver ahead of the game on snow totals while the mountains remain drier than normal.
While none of the snowstorms seen so far this year in Denver have been major ones, they have delivered the much needed snow that was missed last year. December’s snowfall totals will finish well above average and have helped put the city’s seasonal snowfall totals above normal to date .
December’s snowfall total for the month stands at 16.5 inches (20.1 inches in Thornton). This is nearly double the 1981 – 2010 historical average for the month of 8.5 inches.
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For the season to date, the Mile High City has recorded 29.5 inches of snow (versus 34.6 inches in Thornton). This puts us ahead of the pace of the average of 22.5 inches that we normally see through the end of December.
This stands in stark contrast to last season when Denver saw a paltry 22.8 inches of snow over the entire season and Thornton recorded 21.3 inches. For comparison, in an average season we see 53.8 inches.
Not all is well in Colorado however with the snow. While the plains are seeing above normal totals, the mountains are lagging.
Some ski areas like Cooper Mountain near Leadville have yet to even open for the season. Others have had enough snow to allow skiers on their slopes but have runs that they have not yet been able to open due to the lack of snow. Get the latest ski area snow reports here.
Snowpack across the state is below average in seven of the eight major basins with only the Upper Rio Grande reporting above normal (101%). The South Platte basin which includes the Colorado Front Range mountains stands at only 85% of normal and Western Slope basins are seeing as little as 65% of normal.
Snowfall totals from Denver's December 21 - 22, 2011 snowstorm.
Weather radios provide life saving information when severe weather strikes. 'The voice of the National Weather Service' can even sing Christmas carols.
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is called ‘the voice of the National Weather Service’ and provides critical and life saving information when severe weather strikes. ‘Tom’ is one of the latest voices that you hear when listening to it and in the holiday spirit, NOAA had ‘Tom’ sing a classic Christmas carol.
Listen to ‘Tom’ sing Deck the Halls below
NWR began in the late 1990s and now transmitters for the service allow coverage across most of the nation. When the weather is calm, listeners hear current conditions, forecasts and other weather related news. It is however when severe weather strikes that NWR reaches its real potential.
Many of today’s radios can be programmed to turn on automatically and sound an alert when severe weather or another national emergency occurs. These alerts can make the difference between life and death, particularly when a fast developing situation like tornadoes occur.
We have long extolled the virtues of the system and recommended that all homes should have them, particularly in places like Colorado that are prone to tornadoes. It can also provide critical information during other types of disasters like earthquakes, chemical spills, and AMBER alerts.
‘Tom’ is one of the current text to speech voices of NOAA Weather Radio. He, along with ‘Donna’ and ‘Javier’ are the voices you hear when listening to the system.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) released updated outlooks for winter 2011 – 2012 indicating it could be a snowy one for the northern half of Colorado.
The original outlooks from the agency released previously offered a drier picture, primarily based on the influences of La Niña in the Pacific. Given however that the current event is relatively mild, its effects are limited, particularly this far inland.
For the meteorological winter from December 2011 to February 2012, NOAA places virtually all of Colorado in an area that has equal chance of well above, well below, or near-normal temperatures. However, the northern half of the state, including Denver, is given a 33% chance of experiencing above normal precipitation.
NOAA said:
The winter outlook for this winter favors above average temperatures across much of the South, from New Mexico across the Southeast to the Atlantic coast… and also favors below average temperatures across much of the Northern plain, the Northern Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, and a good part of the West as well as the southern half of Alaska.
With regards to precipitation, we see those areas most likely to experience below-average precipitation across the South– in particular Florida and Texas– with a better than even chance of being wetter than average across much of the North– particularly from the Ohio valley and the Northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest.
Last year, Denver experienced second least snowiest snow season on record as the city only recorded 22.8 inches (21.2 inches in Thornton). This season the picture is much improved with 22.2 inches having been recorded so far – nearly as much as all of last season.
NOAA's updated Winter 2011 - 2012 outlook. Click the image for a larger view. (NOAA)
