A strong low pressure system centered over the Great Basin yesterday led to the unleashing of a widespread high wind event. Hurricane strength wind gusts were recorded across six states stretching from California to Colorado.In pictures: View…
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November 2011 Thornton weather recap: A cold and snowy start ends warm and dry
When the month of November 2011 began we seemed to be headed toward a very wintry month. Despite that cold start however, the weather soon turned much more moderate.
The first three days of the month yielded 4.5 inches of snow as officially measured at Denver International Airport. That total however was far less than what was seen in the rest of the metro area. For comparison, here in Thornton we recorded 7.9 inches.
Over those same three days the month saw a chilly average temperature of 27.8 degrees which was 16.5 degrees below normal. The low pressure trough and cold front that generated the cold and snow however would soon be gone and nothing but a memory.
From November 4th through the end of the month the weather turned mild and dry. No measurable precipitation was recorded for the balance and by the end of the month the average temperature had climbed to above normal.
The month ended with an average temperature of 39.5 degrees which was 1.2 degrees above normal. Thornton was a touch cooler with an average of 38.8 degrees.
Highs ranged from 69 degrees on the 24th to a low of 10 degrees on the 2nd and the 3rd at DIA. Here in Thornton we were milder with a high of 72.0 degrees and a low of 14.1 degrees.
The early month snowstorms yielded 0.47 inches of precipitation at the airport versus the November average of 0.61 inches. The 4.5 inches of snowfall was well below the normal of 8.7 inches for November.
Click here to view the Thornton climatological summary for November 2011. Below is the official Denver summary from the National Weather Service.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
645 AM MST THU DEC 1 2011
...................................
...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 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 80 11/08/2006
LOW -18 11/29/1877
HIGHEST 69 11/24 80 -11 77 11/06
LOWEST 10 11/02 -18 28 4 11/25
11/03
AVG. MAXIMUM 54.1 52.1 2.0 52.6
AVG. MINIMUM 24.8 24.5 0.3 24.0
MEAN 39.5 38.3 1.2 38.3
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX = .01 2 4.7 -2.7 5
DAYS >= .10 2 1.6 0.4 2
DAYS >= .50 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0 0.0 0.0 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.47 11/01 TO 11/02 11/16 TO 11/16
11/08 TO 11/09
11/09 TO 11/09
STORM TOTAL MM MM
(MM/DD(HH)) MM 11/16(00) TO 11/16(00)
11/09(00) TO 11/09(00)9
11/09(00) TO 11/09(00)9
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL MM MM
TOTALS 4.5 MM
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 757 801 -44 793
SINCE 7/1 1252 1377 -125 1128
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 9.9
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 3/229
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 43/260 DATE 11/12
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 52/260 DATE 11/12
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.50
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 7
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 23
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 0
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 45
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 0
LIGHT RAIN 3 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0
HEAVY SNOW 2 SNOW 2
LIGHT SNOW 2 SLEET 0
FOG 3 FOG W/VIS
Snowfall reports for Denver’s December 1, 2011 snowstorm
Old Man Winter decided to make his presence known in the Mile High City on the first day of the meteorological winter. Snow began in the early morning hours and will continue for a bit longer through the afternoon…
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Thornton snowstorm and news updates
Old Man Winter is staged to arrive in Colorado in a big way. With snow and arctic cold set to arrive, the next 48 hours are going to be interesting and in fact, the cold looks to last through the weekend.
For all the latest with the storm, be sure to check our Winter Weather Briefing page.
We will be providing updates as needed on our Google+ and Facebook pages as well. We realize however that many folks don’t belong to those social networks. You can follow along instead using the embedded Facebook ticker below if that is the case.
November 27 to December 3 – This Week in Denver Weather History
Cold, snow and wind are the dominant conditions we see in our look back at this week in Denver weather history. All three are common this time of year and extremes with those conditions seem to be unusually common as well.
Among the highlights are numerous high wind events that not only caused damage but also injury to unprepared residents. Significant snowfall also appears many times including a storm in 1983 that shut down the city for the Thanksgiving weekend and left snow on the ground for 63 days.
From the National Weather Service:
25-27
In 1978…heavy snowfall of 6.0 inches was measured at Stapleton International Airport where north winds gusted to 20 mph. Most of the snow…4.8 inches…fell on the 25th. The greatest amount of snow measured on the ground was 5 inches due to settling and melting.
25-28
In 1952…the average coldest 4-day period in November in the previous 81 years of record occurred. Maximum temperatures of 19…15…21…and 25 degrees were recorded. Minimum temperatures were below zero each day with readings of 7 below…6 below…5 below…and 6 below.
25-29
In 1985…dense fog with visibilities as low as 1/8 mile occurred on five consecutive days at Stapleton International Airport. The fog was at times accompanied by light snow… Light freezing drizzle…or ice crystals. Fog occurred all day on both the 26th and 29th.
26-27
In 1876…heavy snowfall totaled 9.0 inches over the city from 5:00 pm on the 26th through 5:00 p.m. on the 27th. Precipitation was 0.30 inch on the 25th and 0.60 inch on the 27th.
In 1919…an incursion of cold arctic air produced snowfall of 4.6 inches over downtown Denver. Temperatures dipped to 5 degrees below zero on the evening of the 26th and recovered to a high of only 1 degree below zero on the 27th…the all-time record low maximum for the month of November and the record for the date. Northwest winds were sustained to 25 mph with gusts to 26 mph on the 26th.
In 1923…snowfall of 2.0 inches was the only snow of the month. North winds were sustained to 22 mph on the 26th.
In 1972…heavy snowfall totaled 7.5 inches at Stapleton International Airport where north winds gusted to only 18 mph on the 27th.
In 1983…a Thanksgiving blizzard dumped 21.5 inches of snowfall in 37 hours with a maximum of 18 inches on the ground at Stapleton International Airport. The storm produced howling winds…which paralyzed Thanksgiving weekend transportation across all of eastern Colorado. On the 27th…Stapleton International Airport closed… Opening 24 hours later. Interstate highways were closed in all directions…but west…from Denver. At Stapleton International Airport…north winds gusted to 36 mph on the 26th and to 29 mph on the 27th. However…most wind speeds across metro Denver were 15 to 30 mph. Temperatures hovered in the teens and lower 20’s. Many stores and businesses closed. Several high school football games were postponed. Across metro Denver…snow depth varied from 15 inches in Commerce City to 28 inches near Chatfield Reservoir. Snow removal in Denver was estimated at 1.5 million dollars. Following the storm… An inch or more of snow remained on the ground for 63 consecutive days through January 27…1984. This is the longest period of continuous snow cover ever recorded in Denver.
In 1990…an early winter storm deposited 2 to 8 inches of wet snow across metro Denver. Snowfall totaled 3.4 inches at Stapleton International Airport where northeast winds gusted to 30 mph on the 26th.
In 1993…strong winds swept off the foothills across metro Denver. Sustained winds of 30 to 50 mph were common across the area. Wind gusts to 67 mph were recorded atop Squaw Mountain near Idaho Springs. West winds gusted to 36 mph at Stapleton International Airport on the 26th. The strong winds produced some blowing snow…reducing the visibility to less than one mile at times.
In 1995…snowfall totaled 3.7 inches at the former Stapleton International Airport site. The foothills west of Denver received 4 to 7 inches of snow. North-northeast winds gusted to 34 mph at Denver International Airport on the 26th.
Continue reading November 27 to December 3 – This Week in Denver Weather History
Image of the Day: Earth’s atmosphere and moon
NASA’s Earth Observatory releases some of the most stunning views of the planet taken by satellites and astronauts. It’s ‘Image of the Day’ today is a stunning one showing the Earth’s atmosphere with a crescent moon hovering above.
Taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on July 31, 2011, the image clearly shows the layers of our life giving atmosphere. The moon appears extraordinarily close thanks to the camera’s perspective.
From NASA:
The limb of the Earth is a work of awesome beauty and a gift to science. When observed from space, the palette of gaseous layers of atmosphere reminds us of the fragility and tenuousness of the cocoon that shelters life from cold, harsh space. That same view also allows scientists to detect the gases and particles that make up our the different layers of our atmosphere. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured a bit of both in this digital photograph from July 31, 2011. They threw in the Moon as an extra gift.
Closest to Earth’s surface, the orange-red glow reveals Earth’s troposphere—the lowest, densest layer of the atmosphere, and the one we live within. A brown transitional layer is the upper edge of the troposphere, known as the tropopause. A milky white and gray layer sits above that, likely a slice of the stratosphere with perhaps some noctilucent clouds thrown in. The upper reaches of the atmosphere—the mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere—fade from shades of blue to the blackness of space.
The different colors occur because the dominant gases and particles in each layer act like prisms filtering out certain colors of light. Instruments carried on satellites and on craft such as the space shuttle have allowed scientists to decipher characteristics of the ozone layer and the climate-altering effects of aerosols.
A thin crescent of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun below the horizon of the Earth. Though the Moon is more than 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles) away, the perspective from the camera makes it appear to be a part of our atmosphere.
Astronaut photograph ISS028-E-020072 was acquired on July 31, 2011, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 400 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 28 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
A look ahead at Thornton’s December weather
As with any month in the Denver area, December can bring a variety of conditions. Certainly we have seen bitter cold and heavy snow but in other years dry and mild conditions prevailed.
Based on the updated 1981 to 2010 averages from the National Weather Service, the month is actually our coldest of the year. It also is our third snowiest behind March and November.
Winter weather is typically what we think of when we think about December and it is indeed prone to winter extremes.
In fact, our coldest month in Denver history was in December 1983. In terms of snow, our snowiest month ever occurred in December 1913. More recently the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 1982 and the storms on December 2006 invoke snow-filled memories.
Remember, when the snow starts flying, stay up to date with ThorntonWeather.com: ‘Like’ us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and add us to your Google+ circles
Need a gift for a weather enthusiast on your list? Check out Weather Geek Stuff
It takes a different kind of a person to actually get excited about blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes and the other types of extreme weather that Mother Nature throws at us. These people are often called weather enthusiasts or weather geeks and if you have someone like this on your holiday shopping list, we have just the store for you.
Weather Geek Stuff is an online store that provides a host of clothing items and novelties just for weather buffs. From the store’s custom ‘Weather Geek’ and ‘Weather Diva’ logoed merchandise to items imprinted with amusing weather warnings signs as well as Skywarn storm spotter logos, there is something there sure to please any weather lover.
Weather Geek Stuff’s merchandise was shown on the Weather Channel as a recommended gift so you know the quality is good. Stu Ostro, Weather Channel’s Senior Director of Weather Communications even sports a ‘Weather Geek’ t-shirt on his Facebook page!
Kids and dogs aren’t left out of the weather fun either. There is a wide variety of clothing items sized just right for the little ones from babies to bigger kids. Canine companions as well can get shirts and bowls emblazoned with a weather-related logo.
The selection goes far beyond clothing too. Water bottles, clocks, mugs, bags and other novelties are part of the store’s offerings. For the tech types, cases for iPhones and iPads are available.
Support ThorntonWeather .com
Weather Geek Stuff is owned and operated by the same folks that run ThorntonWeather.com. We provide ThorntonWeather.com as a no-cost service to the community and use the minimal amount of money made from Weather Geek Stuff to support the costs of running this website and the associated equipment. So remember, if you have a weather buff on your shopping list, by buying from Weather Geek Stuff you are supporting ThorntonWeather.com!
Gifts for the weather geeks and enthusiasts on your list
Most people prefer their skies clear and temperatures comfortable but weather enthusiasts want Mother Nature to make things a bit more exciting. If your shopping list includes someone who gets excited at the mere mention of a blizzard, tornado…
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Breaking: Climategate 2.0 set to explode with new release of emails
Nearly two years to the day after private emails between the world’s top climate scientists revealed their scandalous discussions, a second archive of messages has been released. The emails are no more current than the original…
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