Typically November is a quiet weather month with plenty of nice, fall days but it can also turn nasty with plenty of snow and moisture. Just like Forrest Gump's proverbial box of chocolates, you never quite know what you are going to get.

Last year we saw some beautiful weather to start out the month and on November 8th Denver International Airport reached 80 degrees - the highest temperature ever recorded in November since record keeping began in 1872. At ThorntonWeather.com on that day we reached 77.6 degrees. The previous record high for Denver was 79 degrees which had been reached four times in the past. The month looked like it could go down as the warmest November on record but the last week of the month brought big changes with cooler temps - in Thornton we had a couple days with high temps just above freezing and one day with a high of only 21.9 degrees! Nighttime temps similarly got cold with seven nights well below freezing and two of those down into the single digits. For a day by day log of November 2006, please click here.

Similarly, last year we started out the month very dry and were on pace to tie a record for the driest November on record (2002) but the cold at the end of the month brought some much needed moisture. Nearly 4" of snow was recorded in Thornton over the last two days of the month, saving us from a record we did not want.

Looking into the weather history books, November is actually Denver's second snowiest month, second only to March (April is third). In 1994, November was the snowiest month of that year with 16.9 inches - over 12 inches of which fell within a 12 hour period on the 13th and 14th. In 1991 we saw 29.6 inches of snow (the 2nd snowiest November) and the following year in 1992 we had 20.1 inches of snow (the 8th snowiest November). Those examples though pale in comparison to the snowiest November on record which was in 1946 when a whopping 42.6 inches of snow fell!

Historically, temperatures can also vary widely during the month. The overall average November temperature is 37.5 degrees with an average high for the month of 51.5 degrees and an average low of 23.5. In recent history, November 1999 finished as the second warmest November with an average temperature of 47.1 degrees. But, a year later November 2000 finished as the second coldest November in Denver weather history with an average temperature of 28.9 degrees. The coldest November on record? In 1880 Denver had an icy 22.0 degree average. The warmest occurred in 1949 with an average temperature of 50.9 degrees.

One little known fact... November is the area's least sunny month, tying with May with only 64 percent sunshine. September is the sunniest month with sunshine 74 percent of the time.

Outlook for November 2007

The National Weather Service's 30-day outlook model predicts above normal temperatures for November 2007. The models do not favor any particular pattern for precipitation for November 2007 though so we don't know what to expect for moisture. For guidance, please refer to the historical normals listed below.

For More Information:

Temperature Normals and Extremes for November

Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for November

ThorntonWeather.com

* Historical weather statistics gathered from the National Weather Service's Denver / Boulder forecast office data archives.

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