As we begin to dry out from an incredibly wet April storm, we can take a look at some of the numbers from the three day event. Being on the warmer east side of the Denver area, Thornton did not receive a tremendous amount of snow as temperatures here simply remained too warm. What we did get though was rain – and LOTS of it.
ThorntonWeather.com measured 3.06 inches of precipitation – the most we have recorded for a single weather event since we went operational in October 2006. Friday was the wettest of the three days with 1.86 inches recorded – not a single day record for ThorntonWeather.com but still a great amount for our arid climate. The steady and more or less constant rain brought much needed moisture and helps to make up for what has been a dry snow season thus far.
Denver did officially set a record for Friday when 1.16 inches of precipitation was recorded at Denver International Airport – the most ever on April 17th. The old record was 1.00 inch set in 1920.
While we remain well behind normal on snow for the season, for the calendar year thus far, the storm put Denver ahead of the curve on precipitation. Normally by this date we would have had 3.36 inches of precipitation. Since January 1 Denver has now recorded 3.61 inches, 0.25 inch above normal, so that is definitely good news.
As we mentioned, Thornton did not receive a lot of snow from this event. We recorded 3.1 inches total as the rain / snow mix we saw at many times resulted in what snow did fall being compacted by rain immediately thereafter. Other areas of the Front Range however, those primarily west and south, were a touch colder and received a great deal of snow. A quick look at a few of the snow totals from the event:
- Pinecliffe – 52 inches
- Rollinsville – 51 inches
- Nederland – 37 inches
- Blackhawk – 36 inches
- Evergreen – 29 inches
- Cherry Creek Dam – 15.3 inches
- Parker – 14 inches
- Highlands Ranch – 13.4 inches
- Boulder – 10 inches
- Broomfield – 9.3 inches
- Arvada – 8.8 inches
- Denver, Stapleton – 3.3 inches
- ThorntonWeather.com – 3.1 inches
- Denver International Airport – 2.6 inches (Denver’s official site)
All of that moisture and a coming week of temperatures in the 70’s are sure to truly start greening up the landscape. It won’t be long now for sure and you will be mowing the lawn!