This week is Denver and Thornton weather history is notable for many reasons.  2003 stands out as an extremely eventful year this week in weather history.  From March 17th to the 19th, six years ago, Denver was hit by one of its largest snowstorms in history.  We actually recently wrote about this storm on Examiner.com – click here to see it.  Also, we see our first mention of a tornado for the year, also in 2003, on March 17th.  The twister hit near Strasburg but was short-lived and caused no damage.  These events serve as a reminder that winter is not over and severe weather can strike at any time.

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IN 1906…AN EXTENDED COLD AND BLUSTERY PERIOD OCCURRED WITH LIGHT SNOW TOTALING 14.4 INCHES OVER 11 CONSECUTIVE DAYS. THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF SNOW ON A SINGLE DAY WAS 4.0 INCHES ON THE 15TH.  ONLY A TRACE OF SNOW FELL ON THE 12TH AND 17TH. HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE BELOW FREEZING FOR THE ENTIRE PERIOD. THE COLDEST WERE 14 DEGREES ON THE 16TH AND 18 DEGREES ON THE 17TH.  BOTH READINGS WERE RECORD LOW MAXIMUMS FOR THE DATES. LOW TEMPERATURES WERE MOSTLY IN THE SINGLE DIGITS.  THE COLDEST WERE 2 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 16TH AND 5 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 19TH.  NORTHEAST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 22 MPH ON THE 9TH.  NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 36 MPH ON THE 10TH…32 MPH ON THE 13TH… AND 22 MPH ON THE 15TH.

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IN 1880…A PROTRACTED COLD SPELL RESULTED IN 8 TEMPERATURE RECORDS BEING SET.  RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES FOR THE DATE WERE SET WHEN THE TEMPERATURE DIPPED TO 10 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 13TH AND 14TH…8 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 12TH AND 15TH…AND 4 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ON THE 16TH. DAILY RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE SET WITH 11 DEGREES ON THE 12TH…12 DEGREES ON THE 13TH… AND 19 DEGREES ON THE 15TH.

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IN 1906…SNOWFALL TOTALED 8.0 INCHES OVER DOWNTOWN DENVER.

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IN 1908…A WARM SPELL RESULTED IN DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES ON 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS:  54 DEGREES ON THE 14TH…52 DEGREES ON THE 15TH…AND 56 DEGREES ON THE 16TH…  ALSO THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH MINIMUM FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH.  HIGH TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM 65 DEGREES ON THE 14TH TO 72 DEGREES ON THE 16TH.

IN 1983…A HEAVY WET SNOWSTORM BURIED METRO DENVER WITH THE FOOTHILLS RECEIVING THE MOST.  CONIFER RECORDED 34 INCHES OF SNOW WITH 4 FEET MEASURED AT COAL CREEK CANYON IN THE FOOTHILLS NORTHWEST OF DENVER.  THE STORM LEFT 6 TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS METRO DENVER.  BOULDER RECEIVED 12 TO 18 INCHES.  FLIGHT OPERATIONS AT STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WERE LIMITED TO ONE RUNWAY FOR A TIME.  SOME ROADS AND SCHOOLS WERE CLOSED…AND POWER OUTAGES OCCURRED WHEN WET SNOW DOWNED LINES.  SNOWFALL ON THE 15TH AND 16TH TOTALED 7.2 INCHES AT STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WHERE NORTH WINDS GUSTED TO 30 MPH.  MAXIMUM SNOW DEPTH ON THE GROUND WAS ONLY 6 INCHES DUE TO MELTING.

Continue reading March 15 to March 21 – This week in Denver weather history →

Looking at this week in Denver weather history, it is easy to see why March is known as Denver’s snowiest month. There are numerous instances of major winter storms dumping snow on the city that was measured not in inches – but feet!

From the National Weather Service:

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IN 1875…6 INCHES OF SNOW FELL FROM 3:15 PM ON THE 28TH TO 1:00 AM ON THE 1ST. PRECIPITATION FOR THE TWO DAYS WAS 0.50 INCH.

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IN 1896…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.5 INCHES IN THE CITY. NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTED TO 24 MPH.

IN 1948…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.9 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 15 MPH.

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IN 1904…WEST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 42 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 58 MPH. THE CHINOOK WINDS WARMED THE TEMPERATURE TO A HIGH OF 67 DEGREES.

IN 1906…SNOWFALL WAS HEAVY AND TOTALED 7.5 INCHES OVER DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTHEAST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 37 MPH.

IN 1940…SNOWFALL WAS HEAVY AND TOTALED 7.7 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER.

IN 1943…6.0 INCHES OF SNOW FELL OVER DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 19 MPH.

Continue reading March 1 to March 7 – This week in Denver weather history →