DENVER — The average temperature in Denver for 2019 stands at 49.6 degrees as of Dec. 16. That would be the coldest year in Denver since 1997, but a really warm week ahead will likely boost that temperature by a least 1/10 or 2/10 of a degree.
This cold average comes despite some crazy warm moments in 2019:
- The 115-degree all-time hottest temperature ever measured in Colorado which happened near Lamar in July.
- The second hottest September in Denver’s 147-year history.
- The latest 100 degree reading ever recorded in Denver on Sept. 2.
- The record breaking 77 degree day on Nov. 10 in Denver.
But the cold moments this year were overwhelming, too.
- The Bomb Cyclone on March 13
- The 20 inches of snow in Steamboat Springs on the first day of summer. There was even some snow in the Denver area that day. We practically skipped spring on the Front Range this year.
- How about the back-to-back-to-back record cold temps before Halloween. A record low maximum temperature of 21 degrees on Oct 28. A record low minimum of 6 degrees on Oct. 30, and a record low minimum of 7 degrees on Oct. 31.
- The big upslope storm just before Thanksgiving that dropped 1-3 feet of snow on the Front Range.
December, on average, is Denver’s coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 30 degrees, but this year it has been unseasonable warm. We are already more than 2 degrees warmer than average in Denver, and a run at a couple of 60 degree temps this weekend will likely propel Denver to its warmest December in 25 years.
The projection is for Denver to finish December with an average temperature of just over 35 degrees. The last time it was this warm in our final month was in 1994 at Stapleton with an average of 36 degrees.
Many other areas across the state are much colder than average for 2019 as well, but the discrepancy is not as great as the Denver metro. Boulder is currently at 50.3 degrees, which is coldest since 1993. Evergreen at 44 degrees is the coldest since 2011. Fort Collins at 49.6 degrees is coldest since 2009. Greeley at 50.7 degrees is coldest since 1997. And Akron at 49.3 is the coldest since 2009.
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