Not long after the warmth came the cold.\u00a0 Arctic air infiltrated from the north on the 21st resulting in much cooler temperatures and a pre-Christmas snow. This was followed by another snow on the 23rd that lasted into the early morning hours of Christmas Eve. Single digit lows were seen for seven days from the 21st to the 27th.<\/p>\n
We then saw a brief warmup for the 27th to the 29th but that was short lived. We closed out the month with the final two days\u2019 high temperatures failing to reach even the freezing mark.<\/p>\n
On average, Denver\u2019s temperature for December comes in at 30.0 degrees.\u00a0 Both Thornton and the Mile High City came in above that with average readings of 31.8 degrees and 33.2 degrees respectively.<\/p>\n
Thornton saw its warmest temperature reading of 69.1 degrees on the 12th and its coldest of 1.6 degrees on the morning of the 27th.\u00a0 Denver\u2019s warmest reading of 69 degrees also came on the 12th and its coldest of -4 degrees came on the 24th.<\/p>\n
In terms of precipitation, Thornton saw a mere 0.16 inch of liquid in its bucket for the month. Denver was a bit better with 0.21 inches. Both were below the long-term Denver average of 0.35 inches.<\/p>\n
December on average brings 8.5 inches of snowfall to Denver.\u00a0 Thornton fell well short of that with 4.7 inches and Denver just a bit less with 4.0 inches.<\/p>\n
Click here to view Thornton\u2019s December 2017 climate report<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n With the last part of December fresh in our minds, it would not be surprising to think of the month as a cold one. However, reaching back, if you recall, we actually enjoyed a lot of mild days earlier and very little precipitation. As a result, December 2017 goes into the books as a warm … Continue reading December 2017 recap: Despite cold finish, month was warmer and drier than average<\/span> ![\"Thornton,](\"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2017-12-temp-summary-590x289.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Thornton,](\"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2017-12-precip-summary-590x294.jpg\")
<\/a>CLIMATE REPORT\r\nNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER\/BOULDER CO\r\n645 AM MST MON JAN 1 2018\r\n\r\n...................................\r\n\r\n...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2017...\r\n\r\nCLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010\r\nCLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2017\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 79 12\/05\/1939\r\n LOW -25 12\/22\/1990\r\n 12\/24\/1876\r\nHIGHEST 69 12\/12 62 7 65 12\/30\r\nLOWEST -4 12\/24 -4 0 -15 12\/17\r\nAVG. MAXIMUM 48.3 42.8 5.5 42.7\r\nAVG. MINIMUM 18.0 17.1 0.9 12.9\r\nMEAN 33.2 30.0 3.2 27.8\r\nDAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0\r\nDAYS MAX <= 32 4 5.8 -1.8 6\r\nDAYS MIN <= 32 28 29.4 -1.4 30\r\nDAYS MIN <= 0 1 2.0 -1.0 4\r\n\r\nPRECIPITATION (INCHES)\r\nRECORD\r\n MAXIMUM 5.21 1913\r\n MINIMUM 0.00 1881\r\nTOTALS 0.21 0.35 -0.14 0.78\r\nDAILY AVG. 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.03\r\nDAYS >= .01 4 4.1 -0.1 6\r\nDAYS >= .10 1 1.1 -0.1 2\r\nDAYS >= .50 0 0.1 -0.1 0\r\nDAYS >= 1.00 0 0.0 0.0 0\r\nGREATEST\r\n 24 HR. TOTAL 0.10 12\/23 TO 12\/23\r\n STORM TOTAL 0.10 12\/23 TO 12\/23\r\n\r\nSNOWFALL (INCHES)\r\nRECORDS\r\n TOTAL 57.4 1913\r\nTOTALS 4.0 2017 8.5\r\n\r\nDEGREE_DAYS\r\nHEATING TOTAL 979 1086 -107 1146\r\n SINCE 7\/1 2150 2468 -318 2042\r\nCOOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0\r\n SINCE 1\/1 881 769 112 878\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 10.0\r\nRESULTANT WIND SPEED\/DIRECTION 2\/214\r\nHIGHEST WIND SPEED\/DIRECTION 37\/270 DATE 12\/04\r\nHIGHEST GUST SPEED\/DIRECTION 48\/280 DATE 12\/04\r\n\r\nSKY COVER\r\nPOSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM\r\nAVERAGE SKY COVER 0.50\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 8\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS PC 18\r\nNUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 5\r\n\r\nAVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 49\r\n\r\nWEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH\r\nFOG OR MIST 12\r\nFOG VSBY LESS 1\/4 MI 4\r\nTHUNDER 0\r\nICE PELLETS 0\r\nHAIL 0\r\nFREEZING RAIN DRIZZLE 0\r\nDUST STORM 0\r\nSMOKE OR HAZE 5\r\nBLOWING SNOW 0\r\nTORNADO 0\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":"