The month of March 2016 in Thornton was a bit of a tale of two halves. The first, mild and dry. The second, colder and much, much wetter.
We started out with above normal temperature readings dominating the daily temperatures. In fact 12 of the first 14 days of the month saw high temperatures above average, some well above. Other than a nice bit of rain on the 7th, those first two weeks were dry as well. All were courtesy of strong high pressure staying over the region.
Things cooled down briefly for the next few days and we received a nice bit of snow on the 17th and 18th. However, warm weather returned with back to back 70+ degree days on the 21st and 22nd.
March is however our snowiest month and Mother Nature delivered a walloping reminder of that on the 23rd. Blizzard conditions arrived early in the morning and persisted through the day. Schools and businesses shuttered as did the airport and major interstates.
Cool, unsettled weather conditions finished out the month. Another, light show of snow came on the 26th followed by flurries on the 31st.
Thornton’s overall average temperature for March was 41.4 degrees. This was very close to Denver’s official measurement of 41.6 degrees as taken out at DIA. The average monthly temperature for March is 40.4 degrees.
Thornton saw a maximum mercury reading of 72.4 degrees on the 21st and a low of 13.5 degrees on the 24th. Out at the airport, Denver saw its highest reading of 74 degrees on the 11th and a low of 10 degrees on the 24th.
In terms of precipitation, rain and snow combined to bring Thornton a wet 3.21 inches. The long term average for Denver in March is 0.92 inches.
Denver’s automated system claims a mere 0.90 inches of liquid precipitation at the airport. It is clear that they had a very incorrect reading from the blizzard on the 23rd. Their climate report for the month makes the note, “the precipitation for March 23rd is too low due to undercatch from blizzard. This value is under review. This could change the values below.”
Snowfall was abundant for the month and far exceeded the average of 10.7 inches for Denver. Here in Thornton we received 30.1 inches – our second highest monthly total in 10 years. The airport lagged considerably due to their location out in the middle of nowhere with 18.4 inches.
Click here to view Thornton’s March 2016 climate report.
From the National Weather Service:
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO
1255 PM MDT FRI APR 1 2016
...................................
...THE DENVER CO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2016...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2016
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 84 03/26/1971
LOW -11 03/28/1886
HIGHEST 74 03/11 73 1 81 03/16
LOWEST 10 03/24 11 -1 2 03/05
AVG. MAXIMUM 54.9 54.4 0.5 58.9
AVG. MINIMUM 28.3 26.4 1.9 31.2
MEAN 41.6 40.4 1.2 45.0
DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0
DAYS MAX <= 32 1 1.9 -0.9 2
DAYS MIN <= 32 21 23.6 -2.6 12
DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.1 -0.1 0
PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM 4.56 1983
MINIMUM 0.03 2012
*THE PRECIPITATION FOR MARCH 23RD IS TOO LOW DUE TO UNDERCATCH
FROM BLIZZARD. THIS VALUE IS UNDER REVIEW. THIS COULD CHANGE
THE VALUES BELOW.
TOTALS 0.90* 0.92 -0.02* 0.79
DAILY AVG. 0.03* 0.03 0.00* 0.03
DAYS >= .01 9 5.9 3.1 5
DAYS >= .10 2 2.4 -0.4 3
DAYS >= .50 0 0.3 -0.3 0
DAYS >= 1.00 0* 0.1 -0.1* 0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL 0.49* 03/23 TO 03/23 03/19 TO 03/19
SNOWFALL (INCHES)
RECORDS
TOTAL 18.4 10.7
RECORD MARCH 35.2 2003
DEGREE_DAYS
HEATING TOTAL 716 763 -47 611
SINCE 7/1 4704 5202 -498 4724
COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0
SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 0
FREEZE DATES
RECORD
EARLIEST 09/08/1962
LATEST 06/08/2007
EARLIEST 10/07
LATEST 05/05
..........................................................
WIND (MPH)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 11.7
RESULTANT WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 3/238
HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 53/340 DATE 03/23
HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 59/340 DATE 03/23
SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.60
NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 3
NUMBER OF DAYS PC 20
NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 8
AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 48
WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH
THUNDERSTORM 1 MIXED PRECIP 0
HEAVY RAIN 0 RAIN 0
LIGHT RAIN 4 FREEZING RAIN 0
LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 1
HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 4
LIGHT SNOW 8 SLEET 0
FOG 11 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 2
HAZE 3
- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.
February in Colorado typically brings to an end an extended period when average temperatures are at their lowest. Winter begins to loosen its grip and temperatures get warmer but precipitation is not a particularly common event during the month.
