February 2011 in the Mile High City was a relatively uneventful one.  Temperatures were below normal and we received less snow and precipitation than what is typical for the month.

In terms of temperature, Denver officially recorded an average of 29.1 degrees during February as measured at Denver International Airport.  While this is 4.1 degrees below normal, it was not cold enough to make ‘top 10’ status.  Temperatures ranged from a high of 67 degrees on the 16th all the way down to a low of -17 on the 2nd.  Neither of these was a record.

Here in Thornton we were slightly warmer with an average temperature of 29.6 degrees.  We recorded a high of 69.3 degrees on the 16th and a low of -14.7 degrees on the 2nd.

One temperature record was set during the month and one tied.  A new record low maximum was set on the 1st when the high temperature only climbed to -1 degrees.  This broke the previous record of 2 degrees set in 1985.  On the 8th the low maximum temperature of 8 degrees tied the mark last set in 1933.

In terms of snowfall, the month saw us record 5.3 inches – 1 inch below normal for February.  This continued the trend for the snow season of below normal snowfalls and by the end of the month we were more than 20 inches below normal.  Nearly half of that snow, 2.6 inches, fell during one storm on the 7th and 8th of the month.  In all, only five days had snow and all of those were before the 9th of the month.

Precipitation was similarly below normal.  A total of 0.42 inch was recorded which was 0.07 inch below the normal 0f 0.49 inch.  Most of that was recorded during the same event that we received the biggest snow of the month mentioned above.  Precipitation was recorded on five days with two of those recording 0.10 inch or more.

Thornton matched the Denver snowfall total of 5.3 inches.  However we received much less precipitation from those snows and recorded only 0.29 inch of liquid moisture.

Below is the official Denver climate summary for February 2011.  Click here to view Thornton’s February climate report.

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
830 PM MST TUE MAR 1 2011

...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2011...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
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              77   02/28/2006
                        02/04/1890
 LOW              -25   02/01/1951
                        02/08/1936
HIGHEST            67   02/16        77     -10       52  02/27
LOWEST            -17   02/02       -25       8       -1  02/09
AVG. MAXIMUM     43.4              47.2    -3.8     39.7
AVG. MINIMUM     14.7              19.1    -4.4     18.5
MEAN             29.0              33.2    -4.2     29.1
DAYS MAX >= 90      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MAX <= 32      7               4.3     2.7        8
DAYS MIN <= 32     25              26.0    -1.0       28
DAYS MIN <= 0       6               0.3     5.7        1

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
 RECORD
  MAXIMUM         2.01   1934                                          
  MINIMUM         0.01   1970  
TOTALS           0.42              0.49   -0.07     0.30               
DAILY AVG.       0.01              0.02   -0.01     0.01               
DAYS >= .01         5               5.9    -0.9        9
DAYS >= .10         2                MM      MM        0
DAYS >= .50         0                MM      MM        0
DAYS >= 1.00        0                MM      MM        0
GREATEST
 24 HR. TOTAL    0.19   02/07 TO 02/08     0.10  02/07/10 TO 02/08/10

SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
 TOTAL           22.1  1912
TOTALS            5.3               6.3     -1.0      5.8
SINCE 7/1        18.1              39.6    -21.5     46.0

DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL     999               892     107      999
 SINCE 7/1       4151              4489    -338     4807
COOLING TOTAL       0                 0       0        0
 SINCE 1/1          0                 0       0        0              

FREEZE DATES
RECORD
 EARLIEST     09/08/1962
 LATEST       06/08/2007
EARLIEST                        10/07
LATEST                          05/05
.................................................................

WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED              10.6                     7.6
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION   3/206                   MM
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION    38/250  DATE  02/20    25/360 2/18
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION    46/010  DATE  02/07    35/210 2/01

SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT)   MM    * SUNSHINE DATA DISCONTINUED 10/2009

NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR            6
NUMBER OF DAYS PC             19
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY          3

AVERAGE RH (PERCENT)     52

WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM              0     MIXED PRECIP               0
HEAVY RAIN                0     RAIN                       0
LIGHT RAIN                0     FREEZING RAIN              0
LT FREEZING RAIN          0     HAIL                       0
HEAVY SNOW                1     SNOW                       4
LIGHT SNOW                5     SLEET                      0
FOG                      11     FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE      5
HAZE                      5                                           

-  INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R  INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T  INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.