As August 2011 came to a close and the numbers were crunched, they revealed what we already knew – it was one hot month! In fact, in the final tally Denver tied or set 10 different records during the month.
From the National Weather Service, here is the list of records:
Denver’s record setting August 2011 – From the National Weather Service:
- August 2011 hottest Denver August with average temperature 77.0 degrees. Previous record 76.8 degrees set in 1937.
- August 2011 became the 6th hottest Denver month. Hottest was 77.8 during July 1934.
- 71 consecutive days above 80 degrees through August 31st. Previous streak record 59 days set in 2002.
- Tied most August 90 degree days with 22. Tied with 1995 and 1960.
- 18th – tied record high 98 last 1986
- 23rd – tied record high 98 last 2009
- 24th – record high 98 old 97 in 1936
- 25th – record high 99 old 96 in 1913
- 28th – record high 96 old 94 last 1969
- 28th – record high minimum temperature 67 old 66 last 2010
- 31st – tied record high 98 last 1960
How did Thornton compare?
Here in Thornton we were a bit cooler than what Denver’s official measurements at DIA recorded. This is in large part due to our location further to the west.
When the typical afternoon cloud cover and thunderstorms develop in the summer, it can take more than an hour for those conditions to reach DIA. As a result the station gets the benefit of a longer period of daytime heating. This works in Thornton’s favor as we stay a bit cooler.
For us, our overall average temperature for the month was 74.0 degrees – a full three degrees cooler than DIA. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hot for us as we recorded 20 days with 90 degree or hotter weather and every day saw 80 degrees or higher.
Are the Denver weather records really valid? Check out the stories from Examiner.com below for why they may not be.