December brings with it the official start to winter and at the same time we find ourselves hoping we get some moisture in the near future. The mountain snowpack is currently below 40% of normal and here in town our annual snowfall is well below normal as well. In Colorado the snow season starts on August 1st and between that date and November 30th, Denver averages 16.9 inches of snow. Thus far, ThorntonWeather.com has measured a meager 4.1 inches!

Looking into December, winter officially starts on the 21st at 11:08pm. The month normally sees temps start dropping as we head into the cold month of January and normally December doesn't bring prolonged cold spells. However, two of our longest cold spells on record did occur during December. In 1983 the temperature dropped to below zero on the 20th and did not return to above zero until Christmas Day that year - 115 straight hours of sub-zero temps! Seven years later on December 22, 1990 we started an 85 hour period with below zero temperatures and on the 22nd we actually got down to 25 degrees below! Needless to say, that tied a record low temperature for Denver (with December 24, 1876).

Snow is always on everyone's mind this time of year but December is only our 4th snowiest month with an average of 8.7 inches of the white stuff. But, anyone who has been around for long knows that some of our most memorable snow storms have occurred during December. Many folks will remember the Christmas Blizzard of 1982 - one of the most vicious storms in our history. Snow began falling around mid-day Christmas Eve and 24 hours later, 23.6 inches of snow had fallen at the old Stapleton International Airport. The city was crippled for days while we dug out. Back before the majority of us were born, the most snow for one storm ever - 45.7 inches - fell in 1913 when snow fell virtually continuously for six days. 37 inches fell on the 4th and 5th alone!

Looking back, everyone will certainly remember December 2006 when we had our third snowiest December ever. Two significant storms struck within a week of each other dumping a total of 27.7 inches of snow in Denver. The north metro area actually was hit a bit harder as we measured 32.6 inches over the same period in Thornton. Coupled with a few smaller storms during the month, Thornton had 33.5 inches of snow for the entire month while the National Weather Service measured 29.4 at Stapleton. These storm systems were a precursor to what was to come for the first half of January 2007 when temperature plummeted and the snow that had fallen in December stayed on the streets and in our yards until the middle of January! Click here to see the December 2006 climate summary.

December 2007 Outlook

The National Weather Services 30-day outlook model indicates that this December's temperatures will be near normal. Unfortunately, current indications are that precipitation will be slightly below normal. For guidance, we recommend you refer to the historical normals.

For More Information

Temperature Normals and Extremes for December

Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for December

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

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