Flat Tops? Middle Park? Palmer Divide? Where the heck are those? Certainly some of the common geographical features / locations you see in a weather forecast are easily recognized but some are lesser known.
The Denver / Boulder office of the National Weather Service created a very handy map that shows where the most common geographical features are located in northeastern Colorado. It is a fantastic resource to knowing these locations. Learn them and you will be a Colorado pro in no time!
Typically November is a quiet weather month with plenty of nice, fall days but it can also turn wet with healthy doses of snow and moisture. The wide variety of conditions can create picturesque scenes ranging from blue skies and snow-capped mountains to a wintry wonderland in the metro area.
November is the second snowiest month of the year so winter conditions are not unusual. Typically though, these bouts of cold are short-lived and normal daytime conditions are pleasant.
Outdoor activities continue to be quite popular during the month. The cooling temperatures do oftentimes lead to an increase in wildlife activity.
All of the above help lead to a month in which a wide variety of scenes, flora and fauna can be captured.
Showcasing images captured by ThorntonWeather.com readers as well as some of our own, our monthly slideshow covers the entire gamut of weather-related imagery.
Sunsets, sunrises, wildlife and of course every type of weather condition are vividly depicted in images captured from yours and our cameras.
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What is missing in the slideshow above? Your photo!
Our monthly photo slideshow is going to feature images that we have taken but more importantly images that you have captured. The photos can be of anything even remotely weather-related.
Landscapes, current conditions, wildlife, pets, kids. Whimsical, newsy, artsy. Taken at the zoo, some other area attraction, a local park, a national park or your backyard. You name it, we want to see and share it!
Images can be taken in Thornton, Denver or anywhere across the extraordinary Centennial State. We’ll even take some from out of state if we can tie it to Colorado somehow.
We’ll keep the criteria very open to interpretation with just about any image eligible to be shown in our slideshows.
What do you win for having your image in our slideshow? We are just a ‘mom and pop’ outfit and make no money from our site so we really don’t have the means to provide prizes. However you will have our undying gratitude and the satisfaction that your images are shared on the most popular website in Thornton.
To share you images with us and get them included in the slideshow just email them to us or share them with ThorntonWeather.com on any of the various social media outlets. Links are provided below.
So come on, get those camera’s rolling!
We oftentimes hear about how weather can affect voter turnout but is there truly a link? If there is, who does it benefit – Republicans or Democrats? Studies seem to indicate that what might be thought of as an urban myth is indeed true and could in fact play a role in 2024.
In 2005, political science researchers Brad Gomez, Thomas Hansford and George Krause completed the first comprehensive study on the correlation between weather and voter turnout. Their paper, “The Republicans Should Pray for Rain: Weather, Turnout, and Voting in U.S. Presidential Elections” confirmed the conventional wisdom that weather does affect voter turnout, bad weather benefits Republicans and most interestingly, two presidential elections in the last 60 years may have had different results had the weather been different.
Looking back at presidential elections from 1948 to 2008, the study takes into account the weather in 3,000 U.S. counties. They in turn looked at key areas of the nation and how weather, good and bad, affected voter turnout. In the end, the study determined that precipitation is the key weather condition to affect voter turnout.
Continue reading Weather and Election Day 2024: Will Mother Nature play a role in the outcome?
Mild and dry were the keywords for Thornton for October 2024. The month came in as the warmest and the second driest October of the past 18 years.
While the month lacked any sort of drama in the way of storms, it was most notable for the temperatures. We saw our last 90-degree day of the year on October 2nd and the first 16 days of the month saw 10 days with 80 degree or warmer readings. We didn’t see our first freezing temperature of the season until the 25th of the month, more than two weeks later than normal.
The latter half of the month did cool some but mercury readings remained above normal on most days. Overall, 27 of the 31 days of the month saw above average high temperatures.
Precipitation for the month was meager to say the least. It wasn’t until the 30th that we saw any and even then, it was a paltry 0.03 inches. No snow was recorded.
Thornton’s average temperature for the month came in at 56.1 degrees. That was far above the 50.0 degree 18-year running average for October in Thornton. It also goes into the books as our warmest October over that period, besting the 55.8 degree average of October 2016.
Temperatures ranged from a high of 90.3 degrees on the 2nd of the month down to a low of 29.2 degrees on the morning of the 31st.
The Mile High City, as officially measured at Denver International Airport, was even warmer. Their October average temperature came in at 59.1 degrees. That was far above Denver’s long term October average of 51.1 degrees. The month goes into the Denver weather record books as the second warmest on record with October 1950 holding on as the warmest (59.9 degrees).
Temperatures at the airport ranged from a high of 89 degrees on the 2nd to a low of 24 degrees on the 31st.
As noted above, precipitation was almost non-existent with only 0.03 inches recorded. This was far below the 0.92 inch running average Thornton has seen in October over the past 18 years. October 2024 goes into the books as the second driest October during that time, second only to October 2021 (0.02”).
Out at the airport, Denver saw 0.09 inches of precipitation, all coming on the 18th of the month. This was far short of the 0.99 inches the Mile High City averages in October. That makes October 2024 the 11th driest October ever recorded in Denver.
Over the past 18 years, Thornton has averaged 3.8 inches of snow in October. This year, none was recorded. That is not, however, all that unusual as seven other Octobers over the past 18 years saw no snow as well.
Similarly, out at DIA, Denver saw no snowfall for the month. This ties with 20 other Octobers since 1882 in Denver with no snow. On average, Denver records 4.1 inches during the month.
Click here to view Thornton’s complete October 2024 climate summary report.
The weather during the month of November in Denver metro area can offer just about anything. While it is normally a quiet month, it can be prone to extremes.
November has historically been one of Denver’s snowiest months and major snowstorms are not entirely uncommon. However conditions can also be quite dry.
Temperatures during the month continue to cool as we get closer to winter and by the end of the month the low temperatures routinely dip to 20 degrees or below. At times it can in fact bring conditions more like what we see in January.
Get all the details on November’s weather and what we can expect in our complete preview here.
The biannual ritual of changing our clocks to adjust for Daylight Saving Time occurs this weekend, providing yet another signal of the changing of seasons. The United States will ‘fall back’ one hour at 2:00am Sunday morning as we return to Standard Time.
The ritual of changing our clocks twice a year can be met with some resistance as some people struggle to adjust their body’s internal clock. Others actually like the return to standard time as they get to enjoy an extra hour of sleep.
The time change definitely has big effects on the dawning of daylight and how early it gets dark in the evening.
Sunrise on Saturday occurs at 7:30am but on Sunday it will be at 6:31am. Similarly, sunset will occur at 5:56pm on Saturday but on Sunday the sun will disappear over the horizon at 4:54pm.
For many this means that when they get home from work it will now be dark and outdoor activities will be significantly curtailed as a result.
Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time and remain on Standard Time year round. The U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands also do not observe the event.
It won’t be all that long though before Daylight Saving Time returns. On March 9, 2025 we will ‘spring forward.’
Daylight Saving Time Schedule
The mandated beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time has changed in the United States over the years.
The most recent schedule was set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and took effect in 2007. We now ‘spring forward’ to begin Daylight Saving Time on the second Sunday in March and ‘fall back’ with the return to Standard Time on the first Sunday in November.
Daylight Savings Time Dates
| Year | DST Begins 2 a.m. (Second Sunday in March) |
DST Ends 2 a.m. (First Sunday in November) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 10 March 2024 | 3 November 2024 |
| 2025 | 9 March 2025 | 2 November 2025 |
| 2026 | 8 March 2026 | 1 November 2026 |
| 2027 | 14 March 2027 | 7 November 2027 |
| 2028 | 12 March 2028 | 5 November 2028 |
| 2029 | 11 March 2029 | 4 November 2029 |
October in Thornton can bring a wide variety of weather conditions, perfect for the photographer in all of us.
The month brings the changing of the colors at Colorado’s lower elevations and it is also is typically when we see our first freeze and first snow.
Couple those facts with our usual widely varying landscapes and wildlife and we have a month that is sure to bring in plenty of photo opportunities.
Showcasing images captured by ThorntonWeather.com readers as well as some of our own, our monthly slideshow covers the entire gamut of weather-related imagery.
Sunsets, sunrises, wildlife and of course every type of weather condition are vividly depicted in images captured from yours and our cameras.
|
What is missing in the slideshow above? Your photo!
Our monthly photo slideshow is going to feature images that we have taken but more importantly images that you have captured. The photos can be of anything even remotely weather-related.
Landscapes, current conditions, wildlife, pets, kids. Whimsical, newsy, artsy. Taken at the zoo, some other area attraction, a local park, a national park or your backyard. You name it, we want to see and share it!
Images can be taken in Thornton, Denver or anywhere across the extraordinary Centennial State. We’ll even take some from out of state if we can tie it to Colorado somehow.
We’ll keep the criteria very open to interpretation with just about any image eligible to be shown in our slideshows.
What do you win for having your image in our slideshow? We are just a ‘mom and pop’ outfit and make no money from our site so we really don’t have the means to provide prizes. However you will have our undying gratitude and the satisfaction that your images are shared on the most popular website in Thornton.
To share you images with us and get them included in the slideshow just email them to us or share them with ThorntonWeather.com on any of the various social media outlets. Links are provided below.
So come on, get those camera’s rolling!
Wind chill watches, warnings and advisories are now a thing of the past. The National Weather Service has announced that in an effort to simplify the message these products are meant to convey, they will instead me called “Extreme cold” watches, warnings and advisories.
From the National Weather Service:
Hazard Simplification project seeks to simplify weather messaging
Cold weather can be deadly – people exposed to extreme cold are susceptible to frostbite and can succumb to hypothermia in minutes. So as we prepare for the frigid wind chills and sub-freezing temperatures that winter can bring, NOAA’s National Weather Service is simplifying a suite of cold weather forecast products to improve messaging of winter hazards and provide better decision support.
This effort is part of the Hazard Simplification initiative which integrates public and partner engagements and social science research to improve and evolve our alerting system.
The following changes will take place on Oct. 1:
Extreme Cold Consolidation and Renaming
Freeze Consolidation
These changes seek to clarify that cold can be dangerous with or without wind, addressing a common misconception that extreme cold is only tied to colder temperatures when there is wind. Dangerously cold weather can accompany or follow wintry precipitation, and the cold messaging can be overshadowed by the wintry precipitation.
Better late than never? Unseasonably warm and dry conditions have been the hallmark of October so far. Today, we finally got a taste of the temperatures we normally expect to see.
Just before sunrise, both Thornton and Denver saw temperatures drop to 32 degrees marking the first freeze of the season. This comes more than 2 1/2 weeks after the average date of the first freeze in Denver of October 7th.
With that reading the book, we do continue to wait for our first snow of the season. That may come early to mid-week next week.
Mother Nature can be so fickle. While September brings the start of autumn, she was intent on keeping summer rolling along and in doing so, delivered mercury readings well above normal.
The month was a calm one, lacking much of any kind of drama beyond the temperatures. We started out very warm and dry for the first three days then, finally, a little bit of relief arrived. Temperatures cooled a bit and we received a nice shot of rain on the 4th and 5th.
For the next two weeks, dry conditions dominated with no precipitation. Over the period temperatures remained well above normal.
Finally, on the 21st, we saw some relief and temperatures on the 21st and 22nd were only in the 60s. We also received a welcome shot of rain totaling 0.81 inches.
Temperatures rebounded on the 23RD and dry weather continued through the end of the month.
In the end, Thornton saw an average temperature for September 2024 of 67.9 degrees. This was far above the running 17-year average for the month of 64.2. In fact, it was Thornton’s warmest September over the period. Temperatures in Thornton ranged from a high of 93.1 degrees on the 3rd down to a low of 42.7 degrees on the 23rd.
For Denver, as measured at Denver International Airport, the month was a good bit warmer recording an average of 70.0 degrees. This too was far above the month’s average of 64.8 degrees. Further, it put September 2024 into the books as the Mile High City’s warmest September on record.
Thornton really only saw two rain events but both were pretty decent ones, dropping 1.26 inches into the rain bucket for the month. That was a bit below our September average of 1.48 inches.
Denver recorded very similar numbers with 1.24 inches of precipitation. This was just shy of the Mile High City’s September average of 1.35 inches.
Neither Thornton nor Denver recorded any snow during September 2024.
Click here to view Thornton’s complete September 2024 climate summary report.
