Saturday, December 11, 2010

Denver sees driest start to snow season in 112 years

Denver, Colorado has only seen 1.5 inches of snow so far during the 2010-2011 snow season.  That is over a foot behind where the city should be for this time of year.

Only three others years have been this dry - 1883, 1884 and 1898.

The city is on pace to be the least snowiest it has ever been this late in the season.

La Nina is to blame for the lack of snow along Colorado's Front Range.  During La Nina, the storm track typically stays north of the state, or approaches from the northwest - leaving snow in the mountains west of Denver and nothing more than dry, windy and often warm conditions across the eastern third of the state.

One interesting note:  in the previously dry years (1883, 1884 and 1898) - Denver averaged 35" of snow between the following February and April - so there is still hope for snow in the Mile High City!

When looking at more recent times, Denver has had one other very dry start to the snow season since 2000.  It was during the year 2007-2008 snow season - where less than 5 inches of snow fell through December 11.


The season remained dry - averaging 21.2 inches between February and April.

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