DENVER — Heavy, wet snow is a normal sight in March and Denver has had plenty of that, but March is also known for 70-degree heat and that weather ingredient has been missing this year.
The average first 70-degree day in Denver comes on March 9. That date has long passed and we’re still waiting. And it looks like this will be the first March without a 70-degree day in 23 years.
There will be some warm temperatures Thursday through Sunday, but the maximum temperature will likely stay below 70 in Denver.
It's an unusual jet stream pattern focused on the center of the U.S. that is causing the lack of high heat. Normally in March there is a more amplified jet stream pattern that ushers in several strong ridges after winter storms, but this March the jet stream is staying zonal and directly above Colorado. And it appears that pattern will hold for just a bit longer.
That could mean the first 70-degree day in Denver might not come until the second week of April. That hasn’t happened since 1983. There will be decent chance at 70 in the middle of next week when a weak ridge of high pressure is forecast to build over Colorado April 3-5, but for now, most of the computer models are only giving about a 60% chance at reaching 70 degrees in Denver.
While that might be a little rough on the human psyche, you might have noticed that the plants are doing just fine. They're even greening up a little early in most spots.
It's not just the air temperature that plants are interested in, they also respond to soil temperature which reacts less to extremes and more to averages.
Despite the lack of 70-degree heat, the average temperature over the last 60 days is warmer than normal in Denver. And so the soil temperatures are also running slightly warmer than average.
A weather sensor at Chatfield Reservoir shows that the 15 cm soil temperature has already spiked to an unusually warm 55 degrees. That has the plants ready for bloom.
Add in all that water from the recent snowstorms, and it’s the perfect formula for the Front Range to go green a little early this year.
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