This winter has definitely felt longer and colder than any in recent memory. We review some temperature statistics to show that not only has it been an exceptionally cold winter overall, but the lack of any true warm days thrown into the mix made things feel even more extreme.
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ou are not crazy nor alone in thinking that this winter has seemed like one of the coldest in recent memory. As it turns out, with a 32.1°F average temperature, this was indeed the coldest meteorological winter since 2010 in Boulder and the second coldest since 1993.
Not to be confused with astronomical winter, meteorological winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) includes the months of December, January and February, so this doesn’t even take into account November or March which were even more crazily cold both coming in at about 6°F below normal.
November hit our wallets very hard too thanks to rising natural gas prices and a roughly 12-degree dip from the prior year’s November 2021, a month smack in the middle of the unforgettably warm and dry autumn leading up to the Marshall Fire.
Same here. Year over year was insane. November 2021 was the 3rd warmest on record. November 2022 was the 10th coldest — about 10°F difference. That adds up to a lot of heating degrees! pic.twitter.com/5dHed3P2AL
— BoulderCAST Weather (@BoulderCAST) December 6, 2022
Perhaps the most memorable part of this chilly winter was the intense Arctic Blast that arrived in the run up the Christmas. The cold front that blew through on December 21st set new records up and down the Front Range for its insanely fast temperature drop. Our station plummeted more than 40°F in just one hour!
Furthermore, this fervent Arctic outbreak resulted in the coldest temperature reading in more than 30 years for the city of Boulder, bottoming out at -18°F. It got well into the -20s in other spots with wind chills as cold as -45°F.
It hasn’t just been cold this winter — it has also been snowy. Or at least it was until the latter half of February. After a great snow to our snow season, things really trailed off through the month of March. The six inches of snow that fell earlier this week managed to bring us back above normal for the snow season.
Of course we can’t forget about snowfall and the running joke of the winter — almost all of the white stuff this season has occurred on either a Wednesday or a Thursday! Whatever you usually find yourself doing those two days of the week has likely been impacted by Mother Nature’s relentless fury of snow and ice.
Shockingly there’s only been a dusting of snow Saturdays so far in Boulder, with just 1″ coming on Sundays. The dearth of snowfall over the weekends has been nice actually, at least for activities that don’t involve playing in deep snow. The overabundance of relatively dry but brisk weekends has brought to light another strange aspect of this winter — the lack of any really warm days which are typically interspersed throughout our coldest season! After the first week of November which was rather warm, there has hardly been any warm days this winter. Sure there has been plenty of afternoons in the 50s here and there, but very few 60-degree outings which are the type of conditions required for me to hand wash my car or get any substantial yard work done. Is your car and landscaping as attention-deprived as mine are this year?
As luck would have it, this winter has been unique in this regard. Boulder had a top 5 finish for the longest period of time without hitting 65°F — a whopping 125 days — a streak that began in early November and was just broken a few weeks ago when we had a brief taste of spring weather.
Longest Stretches Without a 65°+ Day
- 11/7/1916 – 3/29/1917 142 days
- 11/16/1911 – 4/3/1912 138 days
- 11/2/1938 – 3/12/1939 130 days
- 11/17/2018 – 3/26/2019 129 days
- 11/9/2022 – 3/14/2023 125 days
- 11/23/1912 – 3/18/1913 115 days
- 10/31/1935 – 2/22/1936 114 days
- 11/16/1992 – 3/8/1993 112 days
- 11/11/1993 – 3/3/1994 112 days
As shown below, we’re also currently in the running for longest streaks without hitting both 70 and 75° as well…. though we will need to get super unlucky to crack the top 10 considering the big warm-up headed our way next week.
Longest Streaks in Boulder, CO Without Reaching Various Temperatures
Active streak counts valid as of 4/7/23
Temperature Threshold: 60°F
11/19/1916 – 2/25/1917 98 days
11/10/1978 – 2/11/1979 93 days
12/21/1941 – 3/22/1942 91 days
1/20/1909 – 4/10/1909 80 days
11/18/1983 – 2/1/1984 75 days
12/18/1939 – 2/27/1940 71 days
12/24/1936 – 3/5/1937 71 days
12/16/1977 – 2/23/1978 69 days
Current Streak: 5 days beginning 4/3/2023
————
Temperature Threshold: 70°F
10/4/1969 – 4/25/1970 203 days
10/19/1972 – 4/28/1973 191 days
10/24/1919 – 5/1/1920 189 days
10/22/1925 – 4/17/1926 177 days
10/25/1982 – 4/18/1983 175 days
11/18/1943 – 5/5/1944 168 days
10/18/1911 – 4/4/1912 168 days
10/13/1970 – 3/26/1971 164 days
10/25/1951 – 4/6/1952 163 days
10/23/1991 – 4/3/1992 162 days
Current Streak: 157 days beginning 11/2/2022
————
Temperature Threshold: 75°F
10/8/1982 – 5/9/1983 213 days
10/17/1972 – 5/17/1973 212 days
10/17/1932 – 5/16/1933 211 days
10/3/1919 – 5/1/1920 210 days
10/4/1925 – 4/30/1926 208 days
9/27/1923 – 4/23/1924 208 days
10/14/1913 – 5/7/1914 205 days
10/3/1969 – 4/26/1970 205 days
10/5/1912 – 4/28/1913 205 days
10/23/1975 – 5/14/1976 203 days
Current Streak: 167 days beginning 10/22/2022
————
Temperature Threshold: 80°F
9/26/1902 – 6/17/1903 264 days
9/20/1913 – 6/7/1914 260 days
9/9/1912 – 5/24/1913 257 days
9/14/1897 – 5/24/1898 252 days
9/9/1940 – 5/12/1941 245 days
10/9/1934 – 6/8/1935 242 days
9/21/2004 – 5/19/2005 240 days
10/8/1904 – 6/3/1905 238 days
9/28/1919 – 5/24/1920 238 days
9/23/1923 – 5/17/1924 236 days
Current Streak: 169 days beginning 10/21/2022
————
Temperature Threshold: 85°F
9/4/1903 – 6/28/1904 297 days
9/10/1900 – 6/23/1901 286 days
9/12/1974 – 6/24/1975 285 days
9/8/1897 – 6/16/1898 281 days
9/4/1917 – 6/10/1918 279 days
9/20/1914 – 6/26/1915 279 days
8/30/1986 – 6/4/1987 278 days
9/7/1918 – 6/12/1919 278 days
9/10/1906 – 6/12/1907 275 days
9/10/1923 – 6/11/1924 274 days
Current Streak: 199 days beginning 9/21/2022
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When we look at the admittedly very cherry-picked period stretching from November 9th to April 7th (today), we see that there have only been five 65°+ days since November 9th (and two of those were within the last week). This is the lowest count of 65°F days in that period since the 1972-73 cold season!
With an average temperature of 33.5°F, that same cherry-picked period has been the coldest for Boulder in exactly three decades since the 1992-93 season (which was just slightly colder at 33.3°F). As you can see above, that colder winter actually had more 65°F days than this winter! The lack of warm days really has been astonishing this year!
So there you have it! This winter has been particularly brutal — not only in terms of overall cold and snow, but also the lack of any substantial sporadic warmth mixed in which we can usually count on here in the Front Range. Personally, I’m already investigating month-long rentals in various southern locales with hopes to break-up the Front Range winter next year by travelling somewhere a little warmer. This winter has been too long and too cold…
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