February comes and serves as a bit of a month of transition between winter and spring. Average temperatures start to climb and things are generally pretty quiet.
However, it is still winter and below freezing temperatures at night still remain the norm. February is not typically a snowy month - in fact only the 6th snowiest - with an average of 6.3 inches. In terms of severe weather, the month joins September and October as being the quietest for Denver.
As we say though, it is a month of transition and as such extremes can and have occurred in the past. From severe cold and snow to beautiful spring-like days we can see it all. Oftentimes the month can lull us into a false sense of spring when the snowiest month - March - has yet to come. Some of the significant February weather events in history include:
- In 1883 from February 1st to the 9th a protracted cold period occurred when low temperatures dipped to below zero for 9 consecutive days.
- In 1953 a major blizzard dumped 10.6 inches of snow on Stapleton International Airport between the 18th and the 20th. In 1909 a storm dumped 12.9 inches of snow, in 1912 another dumped 14.2 inches and in 1931 one dumped 12 inches.
- On the other hand though, in 2004 February was the 8th month in a row with below normal precipitation. This was followed up in February 2005 with the 2nd driest February on record - a meager 0.02 inches of precipitation. It also was the second least snowiest February (0.5 inch) in Denver's weather history.
More recently, February 2007 brought us below normal temperatures and precipitation. After both December and January 2007 had above normal snowfall, February fell to a below normal amount of snow. Total snowfall for the month was officially 5.5 inches as measured at Stapleton which is 0.8 inch below normal. In Thornton we didn't fare so well with a meager 2.4 inches of snow. But the good news was that for the 2006-07 season through February, Denver had accumulated 65.0 inches of snowfall which was already 3.3 inches above the entire seasonal normal of 61.7 inches. Despite the dryness of the month, there were no precipitation records set or tied.
Temperatures in February 2007 also fell to below normal levels. The month averaged 29.1 degrees officially which finished 4.1 degrees below normal. In Thornton we fared a bit warmer with an average of 30.8. All 28 days recorded low temperatures at or below freezing while 5 days had high temperatures below the freezing mark. Temperatures ranged from a high of only 58 degrees down to a record setting -18 degrees on the 2nd breaking the old record of -16 last set in 1996. There were 2 below zero readings - the record -18 and -8 on the first. Again in Thornton we stayed a bit warmer as our low on the 2nd "only" got down to -13.
Click here to view the February 2007 climate report.
For More Information
Complete February 2008 Preview with Statistics
Temperature Normals and Extremes for February
Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for February
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