{"id":3015,"date":"2010-10-03T05:31:01","date_gmt":"2010-10-03T11:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2010-10-03T05:31:01","modified_gmt":"2010-10-03T11:31:01","slug":"september-2010-ends-as-one-of-the-top-10-driest-and-warmest-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/climatology\/september-2010-ends-as-one-of-the-top-10-driest-and-warmest-on-record\/","title":{"rendered":"September 2010 ends as one of the top 10 driest and warmest on record"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Mile High City's September weather was unusually dry and warm. (iStockphoto \/ johnnyscriv)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wildfires and record-setting temperatures provided a clue as to what the highlights of September’s weather would be and with the month over we now see it in the statistics.\u00a0 September 2010 will go down in the record books as not only one of the driest Septembers on record but also one of the warmest.<\/p>\n

A mere 0.06 inch of precipitation was recorded at the official monitoring station at Denver International Airport over the month.\u00a0 Most of that fell during a four-day period from the 18th to the 22nd and in the end 25 days had no moisture at all.\u00a0 That scarcity of precipitation allowed the month to finish in a tie with 1882 and 1920 for the 5th driest September on record.\u00a0 Here in Thornton we fared a bit better having recorded 0.09 inch of precipitation but that paltry difference is not hardly worth noting.<\/p>\n

Not only was precipitation in short supply, so too were even clouds.\u00a0 Zero days were reported as cloudy, 10 days as partly cloudy and 20 days were fair (sunny).\u00a0 Thornton recorded over 200 hours of sunshine for the month – more than any other month\u00a0in 2010.<\/p>\n

Temperatures were well above normal for the month and into top 10 status as well.\u00a0 The average temperature of 67.0 degrees was 4.6 degrees above normal.\u00a0 This puts September 2010 in a tie with 1939 as the seventh warmest September on record. Thornton was thankfully quite a bit cool as we recorded an average temperature of 64.7 degrees.<\/p>\n

Four record high temperatures were tied or broken during the month.\u00a0 On the 19th a scorching 96 degrees was recorded easily besting the old record for the date of 93 degrees last set in 1980.\u00a0 That also was the hottest temperature ever recorded that late in the season.\u00a0 Other dates this past month setting \u00a0records were: 94 on the 20th beating the old record of 92 last set in 1956; tied the record on the 26th with 1892;\u00a0 92 on the 28th topping the old record of 89 last set in 1994.<\/p>\n

In all the month recorded eight 90 degree days, well above the normal of 2 for September.\u00a0 An amazing 25 days had temperature at or above 80 degrees which is the highest number of 80 degree temperatures in September since 1872.\u00a0 Overall temperatures ranged from the high of 96 on the 19th down to a low of 40 on the 3rd.\u00a0 Thornton’s temperatures ranged from a high of 93.6 on the 19th to a low of 40.7 degrees on the 7th.\u00a0<\/p>\n