Thornton, Colorado’s 2019 / 2020 snow season report and totals. Click for larger view. (ThorntonWeather.com)
As it appears we are done with the white stuff for the season, we can now report a finally tally for snow.
Thornton’s season recorded 84.3 inches, the second most since Thornton Weather came online in 2006. Only the 2015 / 2016 season had more (85.7 inches).
The total is most notable because we never did receive a truly big storm, just a number of respectable ones. The totals were helped by big months in October, November and February which overcame a very dry December and January.
Officially, as measured at Denver International Airport, only 57.6 inches was recorded. This was a mere 1/2 inch more than Denver’s long term seasonal average of 57.1 inches.
Those numbers continue to reflect the problem with having the Mile High City’s official weather station located out at the airport where it is in a totally different microclimate whose conditions don’t reflect what the metro area really sees.
For comparison, the site at Stapleton closest to where Denver’s records were recorded for 57 years before the move to DIA saw 71.4 inches of snow this season.
Thornton, Colorado seasonal snowfall totals as of April 11, 2019. Click for larger image. (ThorntonWeather.com)
Thornton hasn’t had any truly big time snows this year but we have managed a number of respectable ones and that shows in our seasonal snow totals.
As of today, Thornton has received 49.1 inches of snow for the season. That is just slightly below our running 13 year seasonal average of 53.1 inches.
As for Denver, officially, the Mile High City has recorded 43.2 inches thus far this season as measured at DIA. The all-time seasonal average snowfall for Denver is 57.1 inches (55.3 inches 30 year average) so there is still ground to make up there to get near average.
With half of April and all of May to go, there’s still plenty of time to add to those numbers.
In case you were wondering… The average date of Denver’s last snowfall is April 27th. The latest? June 12, 1947 when a trace was recorded. The latest measurable snowfall was 0.4 inches on June 1, 2919.
Thornton, Colorado monthly and seasonal snowfall totals from the 2006 / 2007 season to the the 2015 / 2016 season. Click for larger view. (ThorntonWeather.com)
To say we had a lot of snow this past season would be a bit of an understatement. Our total came in at more than 2 feet higher than historical average for Thornton and Denver.
In all, Thornton received 85.7 inches of snowfall for the 2015 / 2016 season. That total eclipses the 10-year Thornton average of 58.0 inches and Denver’s official 30-year average (1981 – 2010) of 55.3 inches.
The measurement is also Thornton’s highest snowfall total of the past 10 years since ThorntonWeather.com came into existence. The next highest seasonal total is the 72.9 inches received during the 2006 / 2007 season.
Thornton saw five months with above normal snowfall. Most notable was November which received nearly 10 inches more than normal and March with 18.9 inches more than average.
Denver’s official seasonal total was well above normal as well. Out at Denver International Airport where the measurements are taken, The National Weather Service reported 72.8 inches.
It is likely if the Mile High City’s measurements were still done at a location in the city, the total would have been a good bit higher.
We may not have received any real snow the last two days but it is hard to complain when you consider just how much we have received this season.
Thus far Thornton has recorded 76.0 inches snowfall, the second highest seasonal total since we came online 10 years ago. Those numbers are likely to get higher as snow in April is almost certain and snow in May would not be unusual.
Out at DIA where Denver’s official totals are kept, 57.2 inches has been received. The Mile High City’s long term average (1882-2015) is 57.1 inches.
Trail Ridge Road will be unable to open before Memorial Day as Rocky Mountain National Park has received more snow this year than in any of the past 20 years. View a slideshow of the piled up snow below. (RMNP / NPS)
Historically the highest continuous road in the United States, Trail Ridge Road, opens right before the Memorial Day weekend. That won’t be the case this year as with snow falling as recently as just a couple of days ago, the snow is just too deep.
The Denver Weather Examiner has a story about the mountains of snow up in Rocky Mountain National Park. The snow up there approaches levels not seen in the past 20 years.
Just last week a winter storm dumped snow across the northern Colorado mountains and along the Continental Divide. On the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, snow drifts reached 17 feet high above Rainbow Curve.
The heavy snow accumulation, snow drifts and rock slides are hampering efforts to open the road this season. Snowplow operators said they were battling the most snow this late in the season in the past 30 years.
The central and northern Colorado mountains have seen an extraordinary amount of snowfall this year with the snowpack approaching record levels. In stark contrast, Denver is likely to finish the snow season with the second least amount of snow on record.
To date Denver has officially recorded a paltry 22.8 inches of the white stuff. Here in Thornton we have fared worse with only 21.8 inches. Recent rains have helped to ease the drought but we will need to keep moisture coming to prevent a bad fire season this summer.
Denver's snow season thus far is the second worst in the past 122 years. Click the image for a larger view. (Denver Weather Examiner)
Conditions have been tinder dry across the Colorado Front Range in recent months and certainly one of the biggest factors has been the lack of snowfall. Denver is in fact seeing its second least snowiest snow season on record likely setting the stage for a dangerous fire season ahead.
Through April 30, a mere 21.8 inches of snow has been recorded at Denver’s official monitoring site at Denver International Airport. This is an astonishing 38.6 inches below normal to this point in the season. At the end of March the season ranked as the third worst but after receiving only 1.2 inches of snow in April, the situation looks even more dismal.
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Here in Thornton we have fared slightly poorer. ThorntonWeather.com has recorded 21.2 inches, by far the lowest we have seen at this point in the season since we came into operation nearly five years ago.
Only one other season has seen lower snow totals through the end of April. That occurred 122 years ago during the 1888 to 1889 season when 21.3 inches was recorded. That also ended up being that season’s final total as only a trace was recorded for the rest of the season.
While the plains of Colorado have seen little snow, that hasn’t been the case in the high country. The Colorado Rocky Mountains have been inundated with six of the eight basins reporting from 112 to 165 percent of normal snow water equivalent.
Severe drought conditions have settled in on the eastern half of Colorado with the far southeastern corner of the state event reaching extreme drought levels. NOAA’s drought outlook for the period through July predicts that the drought will continue or intensify.
This situation is cause for alarm for anyone on the plains or in the Colorado mountains east of the Continental Divide. There have already been several significant fires in the foothills and on the far eastern plains. Without some significant precipitation, Colorado may find itself seeing a very dangerous and damaging fire season ahead.
Denver is having a pitiful snow season - the third worst in the city's history. (Denver Weather Examiner)
March 31 was the last day of what is historically Denver’s snowiest month but like every other month this season, it fell dismally short in terms of the amount of snowfall. In fact, as it stands now, the Mile High City and Thornton area experiencing their third worst season of snow since record keeping began.
In a normal snow season, through the end of March, Denver historically averages 51.3 inches of snow – a healthy total needed for water supplies, irrigation and to help keep the wildfire danger down.
For the 2010 to 2011 season we are far behind that mark. As of yesterday Denver has recorded a paltry 20.6 inches of snow this season at DIA; a total more than 30 inches below normal. Only two other seasons have seen lower snow totals at this point in the season since record keeping began in 1882 – and those were more than 125 years ago.
For the season Thornton has fared worse than the official Denver totals as we have recorded a mere 19.7 inches (click here for the latest totals). Stapleton has recorded 22.8 and Denver City Park has fared the best with 26.8.
Only one month in this snow season has Denver seen at or above normal snowfall. That occurred in January when we recorded 8.0 inches of snow versus the average for the month of 7.7 inches.
By comparison, the Mile High City’s two snowiest months – March and November respectively – saw very little snowfall. In March a mere 2.5 inches fell in contrast to 11.7 inches on average. November 2010 saw only 1.5 inches of snow versus the November average of 10.7 inches.
The long range climate forecasts from the National Weather Service predict continued drier and warmer than normal weather for the month. April is however historically our third snowiest month so there may be hope, especially given the history of the two seasons on record that were worse than this one.
During the 1883 to 1884 season, April brought 18 inches of snow and the 1884 to 1885 season saw an astounding 32 inches of snowfall in the month. While both snow seasons finished below average, they made up a lot of ground in 30 days.
We can only hope that this season follows suit or we will be in for a very dry – and dangerous – summer.
