Things cooled down briefly for the next few days and we received a nice bit of snow on the 17th and 18th.\u00a0 However, warm weather returned with back to back 70+ degree days on the 21st and 22nd.<\/p>\n
March is however our snowiest month and Mother Nature delivered a walloping reminder of that on the 23rd.\u00a0 Blizzard conditions arrived early in the morning and persisted through the day.\u00a0 Schools and businesses shuttered as did the airport and major interstates.<\/p>\n
Cool, unsettled weather conditions finished out the month.\u00a0 Another, light show of snow came on the 26th followed by flurries on the 31st.<\/p>\n
Thornton\u2019s overall average temperature for March was 41.4 degrees.\u00a0 This was very close to Denver\u2019s official measurement of 41.6 degrees as taken out at DIA.\u00a0 The average monthly temperature for March is 40.4 degrees.<\/p>\n
Thornton saw a maximum mercury reading of 72.4 degrees on the 21st and a low of 13.5 degrees on the 24th.\u00a0 Out at the airport, Denver saw its highest reading of 74 degrees on the 11th and a low of 10 degrees on the 24th.<\/p>\n
In terms of precipitation, rain and snow combined to bring Thornton a wet 3.21 inches.\u00a0 The long term average for Denver in March is 0.92 inches.<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s automated system claims a mere 0.90 inches of liquid precipitation at the airport.\u00a0 It is clear that they had a very incorrect reading from the blizzard on the 23rd.\u00a0 Their climate report for the month makes the note, \u201cthe precipitation for March 23rd is too low due to undercatch from blizzard. This value is under review. This could change the values below.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snowfall was abundant for the month and far exceeded the average of 10.7 inches for Denver.\u00a0 Here in Thornton we received 30.1 inches \u2013 our second highest monthly total in 10 years.\u00a0 The airport lagged considerably due to their location out in the middle of nowhere with 18.4 inches.<\/p>\n
Click here to view Thornton\u2019s March 2016 climate report<\/a>.<\/p>\n From the National Weather Service:<\/p>\n The month of March 2016 in Thornton was a bit of a tale of two halves.\u00a0 The first, mild and dry.\u00a0 The second, colder and much, much wetter. We started out with above normal temperature readings dominating the daily temperatures.\u00a0 In fact 12 of the first 14 days of the month saw high temperatures above … Continue reading March 2016 weather recap: A bit warmer than normal, much wetter and snowier<\/span> ![\"Thornton,](\"http:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-42L61BC0Mm4\/Vv7qSNUbDsI\/AAAAAAAADjc\/W5so0rARxZoLmuBc-c8_af1gmHwctw9oQCCo\/s560-Ic42\/2016-03-Temps.jpg\")
![\"Thornton,](\"http:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-Id9HZ77umfg\/Vv7qR8VyzOI\/AAAAAAAADjY\/wGMYVHh7qQgnJ5L5BZrM0T8W6Rg6R3MvACCo\/s560-Ic42\/2016-03-Precip.jpg\")
CLIMATE REPORT\r\nNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER\/BOULDER CO\r\n1255 PM MDT FRI APR 1 2016\r\n\r\n...................................\r\n\r\n...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2016...\r\n\r\nCLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010\r\nCLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2016\r\n\r\nWEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S\r\n VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)\r\n NORMAL\r\n................................................................\r\nTEMPERATURE (F)\r\nRECORD\r\n HIGH 84 03\/26\/1971\r\n LOW -11 03\/28\/1886\r\nHIGHEST 74 03\/11 73 1 81 03\/16\r\nLOWEST 10 03\/24 11 -1 2 03\/05\r\nAVG. MAXIMUM 54.9 54.4 0.5 58.9\r\nAVG. MINIMUM 28.3 26.4 1.9 31.2\r\nMEAN 41.6 40.4 1.2 45.0\r\nDAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0\r\nDAYS MAX <= 32 1 1.9 -0.9 2\r\nDAYS MIN <= 32 21 23.6 -2.6 12\r\nDAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.1 -0.1 0 \r\n\r\nPRECIPITATION (INCHES) \r\nRECORD\r\n MAXIMUM 4.56 1983\r\n MINIMUM 0.03 2012 \r\n\r\n*THE PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH 23RD IS TOO LOW DUE TO UNDERCATCH \r\nFROM BLIZZARD. THIS VALUE IS UNDER REVIEW. THIS COULD CHANGE \r\nTHE VALUES BELOW. \r\n\r\nTOTALS 0.90* 0.92 -0.02* 0.79 \r\nDAILY AVG. 0.03* 0.03 0.00* 0.03 \r\nDAYS >= .01 9 5.9 3.1 5\r\nDAYS >= .10 2 2.4 -0.4 3\r\nDAYS >= .50 0 0.3 -0.3 0\r\nDAYS >= 1.00 0* 0.1 -0.1* 0\r\nGREATEST\r\n 24 HR. TOTAL 0.49* 03\/23 TO 03\/23 03\/19 TO 03\/19\r\n\r\nSNOWFALL (INCHES)\r\nRECORDS\r\n TOTAL 18.4 10.7\r\nRECORD MARCH 35.2 2003\r\n\r\nDEGREE_DAYS\r\nHEATING TOTAL 716 763 -47 611\r\n SINCE 7\/1 4704 5202 -498 4724\r\nCOOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0\r\n SINCE 1\/1 0 0 0 0\r\n\r\nFREEZE DATES\r\nRECORD\r\n EARLIEST 09\/08\/1962\r\n LATEST 06\/08\/2007\r\nEARLIEST 10\/07\r\nLATEST 05\/05\r\n..........................................................\r\n\r\nWIND (MPH)\r\nAVERAGE WIND SPEED 11.7\r\nRESULTANT WIND SPEED\/DIRECTION 3\/238\r\nHIGHEST WIND SPEED\/DIRECTION 53\/340 DATE 03\/23\r\nHIGHEST GUST SPEED\/DIRECTION 59\/340 DATE 03\/23\r\n\r\nSKY COVER\r\nPOSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM\r\nAVERAGE SKY COVER 0.60\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 3\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS PC 20\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 8\r\n\r\nAVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 48\r\n\r\nWEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH\r\nTHUNDERSTORM 1 MIXED PRECIP 0\r\nHEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 0\r\nLIGHT RAIN 4 FREEZING RAIN 0\r\nLT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 1\r\nHEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 4\r\nLIGHT SNOW 8 SLEET 0\r\nFOG 11 FOG W\/VIS <= 1\/4 MILE 2\r\nHAZE 3\r\n\r\n- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.\r\nR INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.\r\nMM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.\r\nT INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"