While April may normally be associated with showers, Mother Nature sometimes throws us a curveball.  Such was the case with the bitter cold temperatures she delivered that broke records, one dating back more than 50 years ago.

Denver’s official temperature as measured at Denver International Airport dropped to 9 degrees just before midnight last night.  This sets a new record low temperature for April 9, easily besting the previous record of 12 degrees set in 1959.  Here in Thornton our low was 10.4 degrees.

Additionally, a new record low maximum temperature was recorded yesterday as well.  The ‘high’ temperature was 22 degrees, recorded shortly after midnight.  The previous record low maximum for April 9 was 27 degrees set in 1973.  The 22 degree reading was the sixth coldest high temperature ever recorded in April.  Thornton was slightly warmer with a high of 24.9 degrees.

As the cold front moved out, the chilly temperatures lingered into the morning of April 10. The mercury at DIA dropped to 6 degrees setting a new record low temperature for the date and making it the fourth coldest low temperature ever recorded in April. The previous record low for the date was 7 degrees set in 1959.  In Thornton the temperature hit a low of 6.7 degrees right at 6:00am.

It is interesting to note that these are the first daily cold weather related records Denver has set in more than two years.

While we have seen plenty of high temperature records, we have to go all the way back to February 8, 2011 when we tied a record low maximum temperature to find one related to the cold.  The last time we had a record low temperature was October 10, 2009.

Is everyone ready for spring now?  😉