March in Denver typically means frequent and rapid weather changes. The days grow longer and we start enjoying more sunshine and sometimes summer-like weather. However, on occasion arctic air masses can still force their way south into Colorado dropping temperatures quickly and markedly.
These changes are due to Marches "in between" status - elements during the month have much in common with winter and spring. In addition to arctic fronts, Pacific storms frequently move across Colorado from the west and warm moist air streams up from the Gulf of Mexico northeastward into the state. When these cold fronts collide with the warmer air masses the result can be some crazy weather.
Our March weather calendar has many examples of this changeable weather but one of the most notable occurred on March 8, 1992. The morning saw sunny skies and a high temperature of 52 degrees at midday. By the afternoon though, things changed rapidly as tornadoes and thunderstorms with hail developed across the northeast plains, including the Denver Metro area. This was followed by a Canadian cold front that hit in the late afternoon that caused temperatures to drop and blizzard conditions to set in along the Front Range. By the time it was done, 12.4 inches of snow had fallen at Stapleton International Airport and even higher amounts reported across the greater metro area.
More recently, on March 17, 2003 a tornado struck near Bennett when air temperatures were only in the 40's. Later that day the second strongest winter storm in Denver history began. From March 17th to the 20th 31.8 inches of snow was recorded at Stapleton. A whopping 87.5 inches was recorded near Rollinsville just west of Denver in the foothills. Being a spring storm, this was a very wet storm compared to what we normally receive with an 8 to 1 ratio - i.e. 8 inches of snow yielded 1 inch of moisture. Typically in Colorado we average around a 10 to 1 ratio.
March 2003 became the snowiest March in Denver history with 35.2 inches. However we also have seen dry Marches on occasion including 0.3 inches of snow in 1883, 0.4 inches in 1911 and 1.8 inches in 2004. March 2004 became the second driest March in Denver history recording only 0.14 inches of moisture; the driest was in 1908 when only 0.11 inches was measured.
As most locals know, March is the snowiest month of the year. However, thanks to the rapid changes we experience, the snow doesn't usually stick on the ground for long thanks to lots of sunshine and moderate temperatures. March also usually has the first spring thunderstorms and strong Chinook winds do still make their way to us on a few days, particularly near the foothills.
March 2008 Outlook
For the Denver metro area the National Weather Service 30-day outlook model expects temperatures to be slightly above normal while the precipitation model forecasts at or slightly below normal precipitation.
For More Information
Click here for a complete preview including a recap of March 2007 and complete historical statistics,
Temperature Normals and Extremes for March
Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for March
ThorntonWeather.com is your local source for Thornton weather and weather related news. Provided as a service to the community, ThorntonWeather.com offers real-time weather information, forecasts, radar, statistics and more!