register |  login
› ARVADA
Loading Ad
Visit Other Hubs:
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Tower
Blog
Blog Entry 13 of 130 Metro Weather Blog

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~ArvadaWeatherBuff

Weather facts for October
Contributed by: Rick Smith   on 10/1/2006

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
915 AM MDT WED SEP 26 2006


...A PREVIEW OF DENVER'S OCTOBER WEATHER...
...OCTOBER IS THE FIRST FULL MONTH OF THE FALL SEASON...

OCTOBER IS NORMALLY ONE OF THE QUIETEST WEATHER MONTHS IN DENVER WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF MILD SUNNY DAYS AND CLEAR COOL NIGHTS. IT HAS THE SECOND HIGHEST AMOUNT OF SUNSHINE WITH 72 PERCENT. THE MONTH WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE IS SEPTEMBER WITH 74 PERCENT AND COINCIDENTLY THE MONTH AFTER OCTOBER...NOVEMBER IS ONE OF THE LOWEST SUNSHINE MONTHS WITH ONLY 64 PERCENT. IN MOST YEARS OCTOBER BRINGS THE FIRST TASTE OF WINTER WITH THE AVERAGE DATE OF THE FIRST FREEZE ON THE 7TH AND AVERAGE FIRST SNOW ON THE 15TH.

THERE IS A GREAT TEMPERATURE EXTREME DIFFERENCE FOR OCTOBER. THE RECORD HIGH OCTOBER TEMPERATURE IS 90 DEGREES SET OCTOBER 1ST 1892, WHILE THE COLDEST OCTOBER TEMPERATURE IS 2 BELOW ZERO SET ON OCTOBER 29TH 1917. ON 10/02/1969...THE DENVER TEMPERATURE WAS 85 DEGREES. ON OCTOBER 3RD AND 4TH...15 INCHES OF SNOW FELL ACROSS THE AREA. IN 1991...A RECORD HIGH OF 89 DEGREES WAS SET ON THE 16TH FOLLOWED BY RECORD LOWS OF 7 DEGREES ON THE 30TH AND 10 DEGREES ON THE 31ST.

ONE OF DENVER'S MOST FAMOUS SNOWSTORMS WAS THE "BRONCO BLIZZARD" WHICH OCCURRED ON OCTOBER 15TH 1984. THIS STORM WAS WITNESSED BY A NATIONWIDE TELEVISION AUDIENCE ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. BY THE TIME THE GAME ENDED...THE ENTIRE FIELD WAS COVERED BY 3 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW. BY THE TIME THE STORM ENDED...OVER A FOOT OF SNOW HAD FALLEN OVER MOST OF THE METRO AREA. OCTOBER 1997 TURNED OUT TO BE A SNOW RECORD SETTER. THE BLIZZARD OF OCTOBER 24TH-25TH PRODUCED 19.1 INCHES OF SNOW IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD SETTING A NEW OCTOBER RECORD. BEFORE THE STORM ENDED...21.9 INCHES OF SNOW HAD FALLEN ON THE OLD STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DURING THE 2 DAY PERIOD. THE MONTH FINISHED WITH 22.1 INCHES MAKING IT THE 3RD SNOWIEST OCTOBER IN DENVER HISTORY.

...TAKING A LOOK AT THE WEATHER BACK DURING OCTOBER 2005...
...FINALLY ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION DURING OCTOBER 2005...

AFTER 3 MONTHS OF BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION...OCTOBER 2005
RECORDED ABOVE NORMAL MOISTURE. TWO 24 HOUR PRECIPITATION
RECORDS WERE SET IN THE FIRST 10 DAYS OF THE MONTH WHICH IS NOT THE NORM FOR DENVER. 0.62 INCH ON THE 9TH BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 0.35 INCH SET IN 1939. THEN ON THE 10TH...0.99 INCH
FELL INTO THE RAIN BUCKET BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 0.84 INCH
SET WAY BACK IN 1912. FOR THE MONTH...2.16 INCHES WAS THE TOTAL
PRECIPITATION WHICH WAS A WHOPPING 1.17 INCHES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 0.99 INCH. THERE WERE 6 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE MOISTURE AND THE 2 RECORDS THAT EXCEEDED THE HALF INCH THRESHOLD. SNOWFALL MEASURED NEAR THE FORMER STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TOTALED 9.6 INCHES WHICH WAS 5.5 INCHES ABOVE THE NORM. 6.2 INCHES FELL ON THE 11TH BUT ONLY 2 INCHES REMAINED ON THE GROUND FOR THE OFFICIAL SNOW DEPTH. THE 9.6 INCHES IS ALSO THE SEASONAL TOTAL SO FAR WHICH IS 5.5 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL.

AS FAR AS TEMPERATURES WERE CONCERNED...THREE NEW RECORDS WERE ESTABLISHED. A NEW RECORD HIGH FOR OCTOBER 2ND WAS ESTABLISHED WITH AN 88 DEGREE READING BREAKING THE OLD RECORD OF 86 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1954. THEN ON THE VERY NEXT DAY ANOTHER 88 DEGREE READING BROKE THE RECORD OF 87 DEGREES SET IN 1967. ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH...THE MERCURY ROSE TO 89 DEGREES...JUST ONE DEGREE AWAY FROM THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF THE MONTH WHICH WAS 90 DEGREES SET ON OCTOBER 1ST WAY BACK IN 1892. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH FINISHED AT 51.9 DEGREES JUST 0.9 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL. TEMPERATURES RANGED FROM A HIGH OF 89 DEGREES DOWN TO 29 DEGREES. A RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS
SET ON OCT 10TH WITH A READING OF ONLY 34 DEGREES CRUSHING THE OLD RECORD OF 38 DEGREES SET IN 1946. NINE DAYS RECORDED
TEMPERATURES AT OR BELOW THE FREEZING MARK WHICH IS RIGHT ON NORMAL.

NO SEVERE WEATHER WAS OBSERVED AT THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. TEN DAYS REPORTED LIGHT FOG AND 3 DAYS HAD DENSE FOG WHICH IS VISIBILITY 1/4 MILE OR LESS. THE PEAK WIND GUST DURING THE MONTH WAS 37 MPH FROM THE NORTHWEST (330 DEGREES).

THE DENVER OUTLOOK FOR OCTOBER 2006: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 30-DAY OUTLOOK MODEL DOES NOT FAVOR ANY PARTICULAR MODEL FOR EITHER TEMPERATURE OR PRECIPITATION. SO CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS ARE SUGGESTED FOR GUIDANCE.

DENVER NORMALS AND RECORDS ARE LISTED BELOW:

*****************************************************************
********
...DENVER'S AVERAGE AND RECORD OCTOBER STATISTICS...
(NORMALS PERIOD 1971-2000)

...TEMPERATURE...

AVERAGE HIGH......................... 66.0
AVERAGE LOW.......................... 35.9
MONTHLY MEAN......................... 51.0
DAYS WITH HIGH 90 OR ABOVE........... 0
DAYS WITH HIGH 32 OR BELOW........... 0* (* = LESS THAN 1)
DAYS WITH LOW 32 OR BELOW........... 9
DAYS WITH LOWS ZERO OR BELOW......... 0

...PRECIPITATION...

MONTHLY MEAN......................... 0.99 INCH
DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION... 5
AVERAGE SNOWFALL..................... 4.1 INCHES
DAYS WITH 1.0 INCH OR MORE SNOWFALL.. 1

*NOTE* SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH ARE MEASURED BY COOPERATIVE
OBSERVERS AT THE FORMER WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE JUST EAST OF THE FORMER STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

...MISCELLANEOUS OCTOBER AVERAGES...

HEATING DEGREE DAYS.................. 436
COOLING DEGREES DAYS................. 0
WIND SPEED (MPH)..................... 7.8
WIND DIRECTION....................... SOUTH
DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORMS.............. 1
DAYS WITH DENSE FOG.................. 1
PERCENT OF SUNSHINE POSSIBLE......... 72

...OCTOBER EXTREMES...

RECORD HIGH................ 90 DEGREES ON 10/01/1892
RECORD LOW................. -2 DEGREES ON 10/29/1917
WARMEST.................... 59.9 DEGREES IN 1950
COLDEST.................... 39.0 DEGREES IN 1969
WETTEST.................... 4.17 INCHES IN 1969
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR RAINFALL... 1.71 INCHES IN 1947
DRIEST..................... TRACE IN 1934
SNOWIEST................... 31.2 INCHES IN 1969
MAXIMUM 24 HOUR SNOWFALL.... 19.1 INCHES IN 1997 (BLIZZARD OF
1997)
LEAST SNOWIEST.............. 0.0 (2003 AND 13 PREVIOUS YEARS)
REPORTED NO SNOW DURING OCTOBER)
MOST HEATING DEGREE DAYS.... 801 IN 1969
LEAST HEATING DEGREE DAYS... 159 IN 1950
MOST COOLING DEGREE DAYS.... 14 IN 2005
LEAST COOLING DEGREE DAYS... 0 RECORDED IN NUMEROUS YEARS



SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog



Talk Back : submit comments to the blog

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Rick Smith

Arvada , CO

Rick Smith has posted 130 blog entries and 15 comments since joining on 9/19/2006. Rick Smith 's average blog rating is 5.
SAVE AND SHARE THIS BLOG ENTRY
BLOG ENTRY RSS FEEDS
BLOG LIST
WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?
Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is  register,  then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyonewhat events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

Loading Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

This YourHub.com community is produced by The Denver Newspaper Agency
Web Development and Channel Analytics provided by Indigio

terms of use //  privacy policy
the staff //  advertise //  help & faq
buy photos