October will end with Denver not having seen any snow accumulation at all during the month.  While that, coupled with the overall lack of precipitation is concerning, not having snow is not at all unusual.

On average, the Mile High City receives 4.2 inches during October.

However, since record-keeping began in 1882, the month failed to yield any snow at all in 19 years since.  Further, in another 17 of those years we only received a trace.

This means that in 27% of the past 134 years, we saw essentially no accumulating snow in October.  So, the fact we won’t have received any this month is not uncommon.

The average date for our first snowfall is October 18th so we aren’t running all that far behind.  The earliest seasonal snowfall came on September 3, 1961 and the latest on November 21, 1934.

We have been exceedingly dry, really since the first part of June.

In October, Denver has recorded a mere 0.26 inches of precipitation while here in Thornton we have fared better with 0.43 inches.  On average we expect to see 0.97 inches so both locations are well below normal.

Perhaps more notable than the lack of moisture is the temperatures which have been unseasonably warm.

As of right now, the average temperature for the month is at 57.2 degrees in Denver, 55.1 degrees in Thornton.  This is running far above the historical October average temperature of 50.9 degrees.

Depending on temperatures between now and the end of the month, it is looking likely that October 2016 will finish somewhere in the top five or six warmest Octobers on record.