Denver Climatological Preview - March 2009

February 27, 1:04 PMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

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A preview of Denver's March weather - our snowiest month.

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 March's “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 on a few days, particularly near the foothills.

Looking Back at March 2008 – the "3rd Driest" March on Record

Looking back at March 2008 we are certainly not hoping that history repeats itself. Last year the month finished with a dismal 0.17 inch of precipitation making it the third driest March on record. The month measured a mere 5.4 inches of snow as well – 6.3 inches below normal. For the first three months of the year in 2008, 0.42 inch of precipitation was recorded - well below the 1.85 inches normal.

In terms of temperature the month was right at normal with an average temperature of 39.6 degrees. We did set one high temperature record on March 1st of 74 degrees, passing the old record of 73 set in 1974. Shortly thereafter, on the 5th, the high temperature didn’t even make it above freezing and registered a high of 31 degrees. 28 nights had temperatures at or below freezing which is 4 above normal. Temperatures for the month ranged for the high of 74 on the 1st down to a low of 11 degrees on the 23rd.

It should be noted that the two records should have an asterisk next to them. Since the National Weather Service takes its official measurements out at DIA, any comparison to years prior to the move are not really accurate. This particularly applies in the case of precipitation and snow since snow is measured at Stapleton and precipitation at DIA. For instance, as mentioned the NWS recorded 0.17 inch of precipitation at DIA but at Stapleton the measurement was 0.55 inch - an amount that would not even be in the top 10 driest March's.

March 2009 Outlook

For the Denver metro area the Climate Prediction Center 30-day outlook model expects temperatures to be slightly above normal while the precipitation model forecasts equal chances of above, below and normal precipitation.
 

For More Information

Temperature Normals and Extremes for March

Monthly Temperature, Rainfall and Snowfall Extremes for March
 

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