{"id":1706,"date":"2009-07-02T16:15:28","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T23:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2009-07-03T02:57:47","modified_gmt":"2009-07-03T09:57:47","slug":"thornton-and-denver-close-out-a-wet-and-cool-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/thornton-weather\/thornton-and-denver-close-out-a-wet-and-cool-june\/","title":{"rendered":"Thornton and Denver close out a wet and cool June"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This funnel cloud was seen on Tuesday from the Thornton Civic Center (looking north) on June 10th. Image courtesy Lisa Wilson, the City of Thornton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 2009 went down in the history books as one of the more unusual June\u2019s on record.\u00a0 Residents are all of course well aware of the string of severe storms but the Mile High City also were unusually cool and certainly very wet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In terms of precipitation, a whopping 4.86 inches of rain fell at the official measuring site at Denver International Airport during the month \u2013 the second wettest June since recordkeeping began here in 1872.\u00a0 We missed out on breaking the record by only a tenth of an inch as the all-time wettest was back in 1882 when 4.96 inches fell in the rain bucket.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we easily exceed the normal rainfall total for the month which is 1.56 inches.\u00a0 In fact, we beat that in one day on June 23rd when 1.64 inches fell at DIA.\u00a0 Here in Thornton we didn’t measure near as much precipitation having recording 3.44 inches for the month.\u00a0 This is more in line with what areas closer to the actual metro area recorded than what was recorded at DIA.\u00a0 See below for details on the controversy about Denver’s climate records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Temperature wise, we were very cool as well, never breaking the 90 degree mark during the month.\u00a0 Two days, the 29th and 30th, came close with 89 degrees being recorded as the high temperatures on those days.\u00a0 This was the first time since 2003 no 90 degree days were recorded in June.\u00a0 Before that, you would have to go way back to 1972 to find another June when that happened.\u00a0 The average temperature for June 2009 was 64.4 degrees, 3.2 degrees below the normal of 67.6.\u00a0 That may be cool but it was nowhere near the record low average for June which is 60.6 set in 1967.\u00a0 Thornton was just a touch warmer than the official stats from DIA as we recorded 90.0 degrees on the 29th.\u00a0 Similarly, Thornton’s average temperature was just a bit cooler at\u00a063.2 degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then of course there were the storms.\u00a0 Tornadoes, funnel clouds and hail will probably be the most memorable events of the month, especially the twister that struck the Southlands Shopping Center in Aurora.\u00a0 In all, DIA recorded 18 days with thunderstorms \u2013 eight more than normal.\u00a0 15 days had precipitation versus the normal of nine.\u00a0 All those storms also took a toll on what is normally a sunny month.\u00a0 On average Denver has 70 percent of possible sunshine during the month.\u00a0 This year we only recorded sunshine 51 percent of the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All that rain we have received in the last two months, especially in June, helps to make one other statistic a bit more tolerable.\u00a0 Colorado\u2019s snow season runs from July 1 to June 30 each year and\u00a0for the 2008 \u2013 2009 snow season, we recorded a meager 38.1 inches of the white stuff.\u00a0 That is a whopping 29 inches below the normal of 67.1 inches.\u00a0\u00a0 Thornton fared a bit better on the snowfall front but not by a lot having recorded 48.5 inches for the season.<\/p>\n

There is always a \u2018but\u2019\u2026\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

As always, we would like to remind everyone that all official Denver weather statistics are now taken out at Denver International Airport.\u00a0 As we outlined a few months ago, moving the official monitoring station 13 miles away has made quite a difference in Denver\u2019s climate records.\u00a0 Evidence suggests that temperatures and precipitation as measured at DIA differ greatly from what would have been recorded at the old site at Stapleton or near downtown Denver.\u00a0<\/p>\n