Weather Story

Unseasonably Warm Weather

More Fire Danger Ahead

Denver's Meteorological Winter Stats

Unseasonably warm, dry, and breezy weather can be expected today, with highs pushing into the 70s across all of the plains and I-25 Urban Corridor. Elevated to spotty critical fire weather conditions can be expected in the driest and windiest areas, roughly over the northern border area stretching southward through Weld, eastern Larimer, and eastern Boulder Counties. Widespread critical fire weather conditions are becoming more likely for Thursday when stronger winds develop. Those more critical conditions could very well persist into Friday and Saturday with continued windy, dry, and warm weather.

A return of dry, unseasonably warm, and windy weather will occur this week. Near critical fire weather conditions can be expected today near the Wyoming and Nebraska borders, extending southward through much of Weld, eastern Larimer, and eastern Boulder Counties. Avoid any activity that may produce a spark and start a wildfire, as conditions continue to dry out after recent precipitation.

Meteorological winter, defined as December - February, really wasn't much of a "winter" for Denver. We tied for the 2nd warmest ever on record, just a half degree shy of the record warm winter of 1933-1934. We did break the record for number of 60+ degree days, reaching that mark a whopping 41 times over the course of the three months, shattering the previous mark of 34 times set in the dry and warm winter of 1980-1981. We even reached 70 degrees seven times, tying with the winter of 1939-1940. Precipitation was rather scarce, with a meager total of 0.67" of precipitation and only 13.2" of snowfall, placing us in 15th and 20th place respectively since records begain in the late 1800s.