Where art thou, Denver snow?
There’s only about a week left in what’s typically Denver’s coldest month of the year, yet the Mile High City hasn’t recorded any measurable snowfall so far this month, an increasingly strange anomaly.
Through Wednesday, Denver had only recorded a trace of snowfall so far this month at the city’s two observation posts at Denver International Airport and the old Stapleton Airport.
According to National Weather Service records, only two Januarys on record have featured no measurable snowfall: 1934 and 2003. January tends to be the least snowy month of the winter, but still, it brings an average of 6.6 inches of snow in Denver. Last January featured 10.8 inches of monthly snowfall at Stapleton Airport.
This January in Denver has also trended dry, with no measurable precipitation through Wednesday, and mild, with the average temperature 3.6 degrees above average through Wednesday.
It’s not just Denver, either. Boulder, Fort Collins and Pueblo have all gone snow-free so far this January. If that trend holds, it’d be the first time in over 80 years that any of those cities would see no January snowfall.
Also snow-free so far this January in:
Boulder (would be 1st since 1933)
Fort Collins (1st since 1934)
Pueblo (1st since 1934)Colorado Springs saved by 0.1" back on Jan. 10.#COwx
— Chris Bianchi (@BianchiWeather) January 23, 2020
After a busy start to the winter season, things have gone strangely quiet since the end of November. A mild, windy and dry pattern has kept a strong stranglehold on Front Range snowfall.
Meanwhile, the mountains continue to get repeated rounds of consistent snowfall, with statewide snowpack levels running at 113 percent of season-to-date levels as of Thursday.
There is a chance for at least some Front Range snow early to mid-next week. But at this point, it appears to be the only potential event that stands in the way of Denver’s third snowless January on record.
