Peak temperature has (theoretically) been reached and winter is on its way.
Break out the flannel and hot cocoa, because snow is on its way! Okay, okay, winter is not happening tomorrow or anything, but August 2 was officially the day that average high temperatures in Denver began to drop, slowly ushering in the chill.
Summer isn't even over ... oh, wait, it kind of is. via GIPHY
How do we know that snows a-comin (eventually)? Well, it happens every year (it's Colorado, winter happens), and it's mostly a game of averages. According to rssweather.org, July is known to be Denver's hottest month with an average monthly temperature of 74.2 degrees. That's almost two degrees warmer than August's monthly average of 72.5-degree average monthly temperature, and the thermometer just keeps falling from there through December. In addition, July's average high daily temperature tops out at 90 degrees from July 12 and stays there until August 2, when it drops back to 89. Temperatures just keep taking a tumble at that point all the way until December 12, where the temperature hits its lowest average high of 42 degrees (yes, believe it or not, January and February are technically warmer months than December).
Remember, these are just the averages of the high temperatures, as we've all been through days in the 90s in August and a few instances when the temperature was warmer than 42 in the winter.
While we're on the topic of weather, weather.gov compiled Denver's annual average temperature data, taking into account the years from 1872-2018 (146 years) to come up with some interesting Denver-area weather stats:
- The average annual temperature is 50.5 degrees.
- Denver's warmest year was in 1934 with a temperature that averaged 54.8 degrees.
- The coldest year was 1912, which boasted a 47.6 degree average.
- 2018 averaged out at 52 degrees, putting it as 20th warmest in the 146-year span.
While it's hard for some to get excited about the warmth slowly subsiding in the metro area, no doubt there are many others lamenting the 90-plus degree days this summer has offered. If we thought we had it bad, however, Lamar's temperatures pretty much put us to shame. Pending verification, Lamar clocked in at 115 degrees on July 20, 2019, making it the hottest recorded temperature in the state's history. Las Animas, who also happens to hold the title for the warmest town in Colorado based on yearly data, previously recorded the highest temperature, 114 degrees, on a fiery-hot July 1 in 1933.
And, just to get you revved up for the impending chill, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Colorado was -61 degrees in the Moffat County town of Maybell in 1985. So that's something to look forward to.
Actual footage of Maybell on February 1, 1985. via GIPHY
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
