Denver Water Dept, Colorado climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Denver Water Dept's normal year runs from 21°F December nights to 91°F July afternoons, with 15.8 inches of precipitation and 41 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 11.8°C, December lows of −6°C, July highs of 33°C, 403 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationDenver Water Dept
- Station IDUSC00052223
- Location39.73°N 105.01°W
- Elevation5,228 ft (1,594 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Denver Water Dept is 65°F and the normal low 35°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 18%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Denver Water Dept.
- Jan 49° 21°
- Feb 49° 22°
- Mar 58° 30°
- Apr 64° 36°
- May 73° 46°
- Jun 85° 56°
- Jul 91° 62°
- Aug 90° 60°
- Sep 82° 51°
- Oct 68° 38°
- Nov 56° 28°
- Dec 47° 21°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like at Denver Water Dept each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 91°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in May (2.65 in), the least in January (0.43 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F | 21°F | 34.9°F | 0.43 | 5.5 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 40 min |
| February | 49°F | 22°F | 35.4°F | 0.60 | 8.4 | 5 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 40 min |
| March | 58°F | 30°F | 43.7°F | 1.13 | 9.2 | 6 | <1 | 21 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 64°F | 36°F | 50.1°F | 1.98 | 5.0 | 8 | <1 | 10 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 46°F | 59.4°F | 2.65 | 0.9 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 14 h 20 min |
| June | 85°F | 56°F | 70.6°F | 1.73 | 0.0 | 8 | 12 | <1 | 15 h |
| July | 91°F | 62°F | 76.6°F | 1.90 | 0.0 | 8 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| August | 90°F | 60°F | 74.8°F | 1.81 | 0.0 | 8 | 19 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| September | 82°F | 51°F | 66.2°F | 1.20 | 0.0 | 6 | 8 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 68°F | 38°F | 52.6°F | 1.16 | 2.5 | 6 | <1 | 9 | 11 h 10 min |
| November | 56°F | 28°F | 41.7°F | 0.78 | 4.4 | 4 | <1 | 22 | 10 h |
| December | 47°F | 21°F | 34.0°F | 0.48 | 4.8 | 4 | <1 | 29 | 9 h 20 min |
| Year (annual) | 68°F | 39°F | 53.3°F | 15.85 | 40.7 | 76 | 64 | 150 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9°C | −6°C | 1.6°C | 11 mm | 14 cm |
| February | 9°C | −6°C | 1.9°C | 15 mm | 21 cm |
| March | 14°C | −1°C | 6.5°C | 29 mm | 23 cm |
| April | 18°C | 2°C | 10.1°C | 50 mm | 13 cm |
| May | 23°C | 8°C | 15.2°C | 67 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 30°C | 13°C | 21.4°C | 44 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 17°C | 24.8°C | 48 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 16°C | 23.8°C | 46 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 28°C | 10°C | 19.0°C | 30 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 20°C | 3°C | 11.4°C | 29 mm | 6 cm |
| November | 13°C | −2°C | 5.4°C | 20 mm | 11 cm |
| December | 8°C | −6°C | 1.1°C | 12 mm | 12 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00052223; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
Which months are mildest at Denver Water Dept?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, September and October. Of those, October has the fewest days with rain (6).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00052223.
When is the last frost at Denver Water Dept?
In Denver Water Dept, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 30 in half of years and after May 13 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 12 in half of years and before September 28 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 301 year in 10 after May 13; 9 in 10 after April 15
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 121 year in 10 before September 28; 9 in 10 before October 26
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 165 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 184 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 18 in half of springs and before October 21 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Denver Water Dept in zone 6a in ZIP code 80204, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (18 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in Colorado · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00052223; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get at Denver Water Dept?
In a normal year in Denver Water Dept, 64 days a year reach 90°F (8 of them 100°F or more), 150 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 76 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 64a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 8a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 150a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 14high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 76a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 14a normal year
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00052223.
How sunny is it at Denver Water Dept?
Over a year 77% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Denver Water Dept, 4.7 kWh per square metre a day. February is the sunniest month (82%) and May the cloudiest (71%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 81% | 2.7 |
| February | 82% | 3.8 |
| March | 79% | 4.9 |
| April | 73% | 5.6 |
| May | 71% | 6.2 |
| June | 78% | 7.0 |
| July | 75% | 6.4 |
| August | 75% | 5.8 |
| September | 81% | 5.2 |
| October | 80% | 3.9 |
| November | 79% | 2.8 |
| December | 79% | 2.4 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How many heating and cooling degree days does Denver Water Dept record?
A normal year at Denver Water Dept brings 5,262 heating degree days, 2% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,045 cooling degree days, 15% more than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 3,396 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 933 | 0 |
| February | 830 | 0 |
| March | 659 | 0 |
| April | 448 | 3 |
| May | 219 | 46 |
| June | 32 | 199 |
| July | 2 | 362 |
| August | 6 | 311 |
| September | 83 | 118 |
| October | 390 | 7 |
| November | 698 | 0 |
| December | 962 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 5,262 | 1,045 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00052223. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Have recent years at Denver Water Dept been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 54.9°F, 1.6°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 53.3°F. 3 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54.5°F | +1.2°F | 14.95 | 51.7 |
| 2022 | 53.2°F | −0.1°F | 14.30 | 58.5 |
| 2023 | 53.1°F | −0.2°F | 19.21 | 31.0 |
| 2024 | 55.4°F | +2.1°F | 13.11 | 44.1 |
| 2025 | 54.9°F | +1.6°F | 12.47 | 27.6 |
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00052223. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Denver Water Dept's climate compare?
Denver Water Dept is warmer than 117 of the 125 places with their own NOAA record in Colorado, and wetter than 68. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 53.3°F is warmer than 55%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Denver Water Dept is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Denver Water Dept share this climate record?
2 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Glendale, CO4,465 people · 4 mi SE
- North Washington, CO311 people · 6 mi N
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Denver Water Dept's climate
What is the coldest month at Denver Water Dept?
December, with a normal high of 47°F and a normal low of 21°F. The warmest is July (91°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow at Denver Water Dept?
Yes: 41 inches in a normal year, falling on 23 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in March (9.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month at Denver Water Dept?
May, with 2.65 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.43 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Denver Water Dept in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Denver Water Dept in zone 6a in ZIP code 80204, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches −4°F (18 years, 1991-2020): zone 6b.
How late can frost come at Denver Water Dept?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 30; in one year in ten it comes after May 13. Waiting until May 13 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Colorado climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Lakewood, CO6 miles from this station, 50.4°F a year
- Wheat Ridge, CO7 miles from this station, 50.3°F a year
- Marston Filter Plant, CO8 miles from this station, 50.8°F a year
- Northglenn, CO12 miles from this station, 52.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made