Denver breaks 104 year old cold temperature record as Arctic chill sets in

The Arctic blast of cold air that has settled in across much of the nation’s midsection arrived in Colorado Friday night and allowed the Mile High City to set two low temperature records. Two more weather records may be set today and tonight before we start to warm up on Sunday.

• Updated:  Click here for the updated version to this story.

Friday night the cold front moved in and temperatures plummeted 23 degrees in five hours. Before midnight the mercury read 18 degrees thus shattering the old low temperature record for October 9th of 25 degrees. That record dated to 1970.

This morning the low temperature at Denver International Airport has dropped to 17 degrees. That sets a new record low temperature for October 10th as well. The previous record low of 25 degrees was set more than a century ago in 1905.

The forecast for today and tonight also portends the potential to set two more cold temperature records.

• The record low maximum temperature for today is 34 degrees, set in 2005. With temperatures today forecast to struggle to get above freezing, that could be the third record set.
• Lastly, a fourth record is possible and indeed, quite likely. The record low temperature for the 11th of October (Sunday) is 22 degrees set in 1946. Current forecasts put the overnight low Saturday night / Sunday morning as possibly hitting down the mid to upper teens thus setting up the potential to break that record.

That would be four record setting cold temperature records in a 48 hour span!

Related:

• Denver weather forecast for Saturday, October 10, 2009
• How will the cold impact the Rockies game this evening?
• Do Denver weather and climate records have an asterisk attached?