Thornton’s December 2013 Arctic blast has come to an end as the mercury finally climbed above freezing today.  For nearly seven straight days we saw temperatures below 32 degrees.

Soon after noon on Tuesday, December 3 the cold front arrived along the Colorado Front Range.  The mercury would plummet quickly from a high that day of 55.9 degrees and drop below freezing at 1:56 p.m.

It wasn’t until 9:12 a.m. this morning when the temperature finally climbed above 32 degrees, the rising temperatures being pushed higher by Chinook winds.  In all, sub-freezing temperatures were recorded for 6 days, 19 hours and 16 minutes straight.

Looking at how the event ranks in comparison to historical Denver cold spells, it falls short of making the list of top 10 longest periods with maximum temperatures below freezing.

Number 10 on the list is a nine day streak that ended on December 25, 1983.  The top spot goes to a 14 day period that ended on November 29, 1880.

During the recent cold spell Denver recorded two low temperature records.

Snowfall was relatively minimal however as is often the case when temperatures drop so far.  Thornton measured 2.4 inches and Denver 3.1 inches.

The table below shows the high and low temperatures for Thornton and Denver during the cold spell.

Date	Thornton High	Thornton Low	Denver High	Denver Low
12/3/13	55.9	11.4	56	11
12/4/13	12.3	-4.3	11	-13 *
12/5/13	12.2	-9.3	8	-15 *
12/6/13	12.3	-6.8	8	-13
12/7/13	13.9	-6.6	9	-11
12/8/13	20.9	1.8	17	-5
12/9/13	30.5	-3.8	25	-4
12/10/13	46.9	13.2

* Record low temperatures