Following on what was a “top 10” warmest and driest September, October tried to follow suit but fell short of achieving record status. Nevertheless, the month was considerably warmer and drier than normal.
In terms of temperature the month ranked as the 11th warmest fall just 0.1 degree short of top 10 status. The average temperature was 55.3 degrees; a considerable 4.3 degrees above normal. Temperatures ranged from a high of 85 degrees on the 3rd down to a low of 20 on the 28th. In all there were only two days when the mercury dipped to freezing or below; seven days below the normal nine we receive.
Thornton was quite a bit cooler overall than Denver as we had an average temperature of 52.7 degrees. Highs ranged from 84 degrees on the 4th down to 23.3 degrees on the 28th.
As an interesting side note, it was just last October that we had our second coldest October on record. The average temperature in October 2009 was a chilly 42.9 degrees and we had 17 days with temperatures at or below freezing!
We suffered through another dry month which did spark a couple of wildfires. A mere 0.54 inch of precipitation was recorded at the official monitoring site at Denver International Airport. This was just barely more than half of the normal of 0.99 inch. Most of the precipitation fell in the form of rain on the 12th when 0.34 inch was recorded. Here in Thornton we were a bit wetter having recorded 0.73 inch of precipitation during the month.
For the first time since 2003 no snow was recorded in Denver in October. This is only the 15th time since 1882 that has happened. On average we expect to receive 4.1 inches of the white stuff.
See the official statistical summary from the National Weather Service below for more details. Click here to view the monthly climate summary for Thornton.
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOULDER, CO
205 PM MDT MON NOV 1 2010
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...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2010...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2010
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 90 10/01/1892
LOW -2 10/29/1917
HIGHEST 85 10/03 90 -5 84 10/18
LOWEST 20 10/28 -2 22 17 10/10
AVG. MAXIMUM 69.7 66.0 3.7 54.7
AVG. MINIMUM 40.9 35.9 5.0 31.1
MEAN 55.3 51.0 4.3 42.9
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX <= 32 0 0.3 -0.3 3
DAYS MIN <= 32 2 8.6 -6.6 17
DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.0 0.0 0
PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 4.17 1969 MINIMUM T 1934 TOTALS 0.54 0.99 -0.45 1.36 DAILY AVG. 0.02 0.03 -0.01 0.04 DAYS >= .01 4 5.3 -1.3 8 DAYS >= .10 2 MM MM 5 DAYS >= .50 0 MM MM 0 DAYS >= 1.00 0 MM MM 0 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 0.34 10/12 TO 10/12 0.39 10/20 TO 10/21 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 31.2 1969 TOTALS 0.0 4.1 -4.1 17.2 DEGREE_DAYS HEATING TOTAL 300 436 -136 676 SINCE 7/1 335 582 -247 815 COOLING TOTAL 8 0 8 0 SINCE 1/1 870 696 174 533 FREEZE DATES RECORD EARLIEST 09/08/1962 LATEST 06/08/2007 EARLIEST 10/07 LATEST 05/05 ................................................................. WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 9.1 9.6 RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 3/231 MM HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 41/350 10/25 37/350 10/29/09 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 51/350 10/25 54/200 10/05/09 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 9 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 22 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 0 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 44 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 4 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 3 LIGHT RAIN 5 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 0 SNOW 0 LIGHT SNOW 0 SLEET 0 FOG 2 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 1 HAZE 7 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.