Denver winter - mild or brutal? (climate, snowy, averages, temperatures)

[belmont22]

Denver's winter puzzles me. I've never lived there, but I've heard people say it's mild and others say it's brutal. It seems like on average it dips to the teens at night and rises to the 40s during the afternoon, so perhaps it's a bit of both?

[Laxor]

I've thought of posing the same question. It seems to have bipolar winters.

[Patricius Maximus]

Denver averages highs in the 40's, snow almost never sticks around for long, and it's definitely mild most of the time. Winters there are mild. A case could be made that they are snowy or that the weather can get brutal on occasion*, but the winters as a whole are never "brutal".

*Denver rarely, if ever, experiences what I'd call brutal winter weather; examples include -40F wind chills and whiteout conditions with >60 mph winds.

[Osito]

It depends on where you lived before that. People from northern climates think it's heaven, people from southern climates think it's hell and people like me just think Mother Nature has it out for us.

[Adi from the Brunswicks]

Denver weather is menopausal. It is highly variable and crazy. Not my kind of climate. Massachusetts has a much better 4 season climate in my opinion.

[LRUA]

Bipolar for sure.

Denver winter averages make it seem mild but mask the crazy temperature swings.
Makes it seem almost as mild as Albuquerque but ABQ is much steadier (and much better climate).

[micC]

They're mild if you only go out during the daytime. Sunny most of the time and temperatures in the 40s Fahrenheit. However, if you don't have a properly insulated home, they are brutal, because the nights are very cold.

[PatrickMd]

Almost as schizophrenic as places like Garden City, Ks.

[gordo]

Denver's winter = Melbourne's summer.

[kronan123]

Synop report summary

well, neither.... can't belive this synop-report. just insane. i don't even think its meaningfull to talk about winter-averages for a place like denver.