While Thornton only received a bit of rain, DIA got dumped on setting a record for the date.
As measured at Denver International Airport, the Mile High City recorded 1.85 inches of rain for the date. This tops the old daily rainfall record for June 21 of 0.85 inches set in 1947.
Here in Thornton, we recorded a mere 0.14 inches.
One heck of a good dousing! Thornton and Denver received a big shot of rain for the day and in the process, the Mile High City set a record.
As measured at Denver International Airport, the city received 2.92 inches of rain. This easily bests the previous record rainfall for May 11 of 1.55 inches set in 2011.
Here in Thornton we received less but still a very generous amount. We measured 2.38 inches in our bucket, our wettest day of the year so far.
Late afternoon thunderstorms and showers began falling yesterday and continued through midnight. Areas to the east and north, including Denver International Airport, saw more precipitation than other locations and DIA set a daily rainfall record as a result.
Denver’s official rainfall total for July 29 came in at a healthy 1.80 inches. The previous 24 hour precipitation record for the date was 1.44 inches back in 1989. Precipitation records in Denver began in 1872.
Here in Thornton we recorded 0.82 inches for the date. While well short of Denver’s number, that is still a great deal of rain.
Overnight showers that lasted into the morning set a daily rainfall record in Denver. Even more notable, the rain added to the monthly total making this the wettest September ever recorded in the Mile High City.
As measured at Denver International Airport, Denver recorded 0.64 inches of rain today. This is a new daily record for September 23, beating the old record of 0.52 inches set in 2000.
Today’s rain, coupled with rainfall before midnight, brought Denver’s September monthly total to 5.47 inches. With that, September 2013 will go into the record books as the wettest September on record. The old monthly record was 4.67 inches set in 1961.
Denver’s rainfall total, while impressive, hardly compares to what has been seen in other locations. It also once again highlights how the station at DIA hardly represents the weather conditions seen in the metro area and makes historical comparisons somewhat invalid.
At the CO-OP station at Stapleton where Denver’s official weather measurements were taken from 1950 to 1995, the monthly total is at 9.08 inches. The difference in rainfall totals between the old location and DIA showcases how the station move to a different microclimate has skewed the Mile High City’s climate records.
Boulder, where some of the heaviest rains fell this month, was at 17.24 inches for the month before last night’s rain. Monthly rainfall totals in many locations across the Denver metro area are pushing the 10 inch mark.
There are of course still seven days left in the month and with showers in the forecast later this week, that record-setting total may increase.
