Anybody left who still thinks Colorado weather is always "mild?" (Denver: fit in, mattress)

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

I keep hearing this "70 degrees at Christmas," "70 degrees at Christmas," "70 degrees at Christmas" thing repeated over and over like a mantra, both on this forum and the General-US forum. When exactly was the last time that occurred? And what is the chance of that happening? I don't ever remember it being 70 degees as Christmas.

According to the Western Regional Climate Center (where a lot of Colorado's long-term climate data is available), the highest temperatures I found for December (from various data sets of years and a couple of different Denver weather stations--Stapleton airport, downtown weather office, DIA) was 75 degrees on December 27, 1980 and 74 on December 23, 1955--pretty darn close to Christmas. The record highs listed for a couple of stations for Denver on Christmas Day itself were 65 in 1950, and 66 in 1971 and 2005. Every date on either side of Christmas for several days showed a high temperature record in the 60 to 75 degree range. So, 70 degrees on Christmas Day may not be totally accurate, but the overall assertion that Christmas can be pretty warm in Denver on occasion is not an untrue statement.

[Katiana]

OK, this took a long time b/c some of my links weren't working and I had to do quite the google search, then a manual search. I exaggerated, but not by much.

28 years of Christmases here in Colorado: 1980-2007:

2 days with a high greater than 60: 1980, 60 degrees, (which was followed in the next two days by temps of 69 and 74); and 2005, 68 degrees.

4 days with a high of 58: 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004

7 more days with a high > 50 degrees: 1985 (51), 1993 (53), 1995 (50), 1996 (54), 2002 (52), 2003 (52), 2006 (53).

Edit: The temps I found were for Boulder, which is why they differ from some of jazzlover's by a degree or two.

Almost half the Christmases I have spent here have had temps > 50 degrees on Christmas Day. The record highs for most days in December are in the high 60s and low 70s.

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by Coloradoan

Although no one died, the Limon tornado in June 6,1990 was another very destructive tornado in the state. Over $12 million in damages; pretty much destroyed the downtown area and all of its local businesses. 117 families were left homeless and 14 people injured. Another notable tornado occurred in May 2001 and caused $8 million dollars damage to the Ellicot High School (east of Colorado Springs).

Colorado is ranked 9th in the country for tornadic activity. In the last decade we averaged aroung 60 tornados a year. The link below from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs provides some interesting Colorado tornado information:

Tornado Safety from the Colorado Division of Emergency Management

If I recall, that one was an f4....and only one injury in the whole town.....when one of my old classmates had a trailer fall over on her....but it did trim all of the beautiful old trees so none were higher then 20feet

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

According to the Western Regional Climate Center (where a lot of Colorado's long-term climate data is available), the highest temperatures I found for December (from various data sets of years and a couple of different Denver weather stations--Stapleton airport, downtown weather office, DIA) was 75 degrees on December 27, 1980 and 74 on December 23, 1955--pretty darn close to Christmas. The record highs listed for a couple of stations for Denver on Christmas Day itself were 65 in 1950, and 66 in 1971 and 2005. Every date on either side of Christmas for several days showed a high temperature record in the 60 to 75 degree range. So, 70 degrees on Christmas Day may not be totally accurate, but the overall assertion that Christmas can be pretty warm in Denver on occasion is not an untrue statement.

I was born and raised in Limon [home of blizzards and road closures] I came to Las Vegas in 1962 at the age of 21.....for the FIRST and only time in my life I SAW snow FALL on Christmas day.....HERE in Las VEGAS....never saw it fall in Limon .......

[vegaspilgrim]

Hmmm, well I guess I'm wrong; the statistics show it has been pretty warm at times even in December. Maybe it's just that the last two winters (especially the winter of 06-07) were so cold and snowy that the more mild winters have been erased from my mind? 70 degrees (or whereabouts) on December 25 still is the exception, rather than the norm though. Do those warm record temperatures have something to do with the chinook winds?

[Katiana]

I don't remember all of them. It seems that Christmas is a little early for Chinooks; don't they usually come in Jan. around the time of the stock show? I remember 2005 b/c my DD was razzing her boyfriend in Chicago about the warm weather. I also remember the Christmas blizzard of 1982 with its high of 39, and the Christmas of 83 when I was six months pregnant and couldn't button my coat (20 degrees)!

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Do those warm record temperatures have something to do with the chinook winds?

Most of the time in winter, yes--especially if there is a high pressure system sitting west of the Continental Divide. What is interesting is that a high pressure system sitting over western Colorado can make for a warm Chinook on the Front Range, while it traps colds air in the western valleys. I have seen winter days when the high in Denver (with the Chinook) was 60+ degrees, while in Gunnison the temperature would not break 10 below zero.

[RangerDuke08]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Only to dispel the seemingly widely held Chamber of Commerce-disseminated notion that Colorado weather is some benign creature of nothing but sunshine and gorgeous weather. T'ain't so, never has been, never will be. Personally, I'm glad it's not. The capricious and sometimes violent side of Colorado weather is fascinatiing to me--but I'm an old native and long-time amateur climatologist. Boring weather doesn't do it for me . . .

I agree, having grown up here, I never felt the weather was "horrible" per say, to me it was simply REAL weather but it certainly isn't one-sided as the chamber of commerce, city of denver, state of colorado tries to advertise it, sunny 300 days of the year - with the fine print of tornado warnings (ranked #10 in the nation mainly E. CO), hail, lightning storms (lightning capital of the world) and afternoon showers all prevalant within a sunny day.

[Rocket Dog]

"hail, lightning storms (lightning capital of the world) and afternoon showers all prevalant within a sunny day."

You just described a typical WEEK in Missouri from April through July. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa. . . In Kansas City we are right in the middle of Tornado Alley. What you described above is nearly an every day event here. Severe thunderstorm alerts, hail, damaging winds, tornado watches, tornado warnings, etc. I have lived in Colorado. When you have lived in Missouri, then you can complain about the "hail, lightning storms," etc., in Colorado!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jdinkc

"hail, lightning storms (lightning capital of the world) and afternoon showers all prevalant within a sunny day."

You just described a typical WEEK in Missouri from April through July. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa. . . In Kansas City we are right in the middle of Tornado Alley. What you described above is nearly an every day event here. Severe thunderstorm alerts, hail, damaging winds, tornado watches, tornado warnings, etc. I have lived in Colorado. When you have lived in Missouri, then you can complain about the "hail, lightning storms," etc., in Colorado!

Amen.

Here in Colorado Springs today I mowed my lawn under a cobalt blue sky, with a good breeze and low humidity. Back where we came from in the DC area, temps are in the upper 90's with high humidity which gives a "real feel" of 105+. People will be dying back there from the heat today and for the next several days. They'll crank up every A/C unit to the max, millions upon millions of them along the eastern seaboard. Meanwhile, we've got our windows open enjoying the best FREE FRESH air in the country. I LOVE Colorado!