Denver Water Dept, CO Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Denver Water Dept's primary NOAA station, DENVER WATER DEPT.
The climate verdict for Denver Water Dept
Dryness leads the climate profile for Denver Water Dept, Colorado, with 15.8 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 53°F. At 49/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 18% of scores.
- 53°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 49/100
- comfort score, above 18% of station-mapped location scores
- 15.8"
- annual precipitation · 41" snow
- 165 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Denver Water Dept: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00052223 · Denver Water Dept, CO 53°F mean · 15.8" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 53°F
- RANK-MID #3,705
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Shippensburg
- PRCP-DRY 15.8"
- SWING-MID 43°F
- COMF-LOW 49/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,262 HDD
- STN-1 USC00052223
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Shippensburg, PA ( -0.1 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every CO station list.
- Hot Columbus, OH 54°F
- Denver Water De… (this station) 53°F
- Cold Shippensburg, PA 53°F
- Near Lancaster, OH 53°F
- Near Farmington, NM 53°F
Climate Living Index · Denver Water Dept
Denver Water Dept: 35/100 · grade F
Denver Water Dept publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Denver Water Dept, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 49/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 53.3°F · 14.2° from 67.5°F | 54/100 · D |
| Frost-free season | 165 days/year | 38/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 15.8 in · 19.1 from 35 in | 31/100 · F |
| Snowfall burden | 40.7 inches/year | 27/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 187 calendar days | 21/100 · F |
Denver Water Dept · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Denver Water Dept's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 76.6°F
- Coldest month
- 34.0°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Denver Water Dept sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Denver Water Dept's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 54th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 80%
- Denver Water Dept's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 47th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Denver Water Dept compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Denver Water Dept's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
49 18th percentile score exceeds 18% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F (9°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 0.4" | 5.5" | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| February | 49°F (9°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 0.6" | 8.4" | 26.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 58°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 1.1" | 9.2" | 20.8 | 0.0 |
| April | 64°F (18°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 2.0" | 5.0" | 10.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 73°F (23°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 2.6" | 0.9" | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| June | 85°F (30°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 71°F (21°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 12.2 |
| July | 91°F (33°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 77°F (25°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 22.2 |
| August | 90°F (32°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 19.1 |
| September | 82°F (28°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 8.4 |
| October | 68°F (20°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 53°F (11°C) | 1.2" | 2.5" | 8.9 | 0.1 |
| November | 56°F (13°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 42°F (5°C) | 0.8" | 4.4" | 22.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 47°F (8°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 0.5" | 4.8" | 29.3 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Denver Water Dept works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 92°F by July 17 and hold at or above 90°F on 44 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 143 dates, bottoming at 20°F around December 18.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from July 2 through August 14, covering 44 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs May 10 to October 9.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 23, then returns to freezing around November 2, covering 143 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is May 12, when 32% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 7 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 76 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 10 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 31°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Denver Water Dept.
Where Denver Water Dept Stands Nationally
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 16 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Denver Water Dept earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 5.5"
3.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 8.4"
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 9.2"
5.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.0"
7.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
10.3 days with precipitation
7.5 days with precipitation
7.9 days with precipitation
8.4 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.5"
6.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.4"
4.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.8"
4.0 days with precipitation
Denver Water Dept spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 34% of the annual total and December through February 10%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Denver Water Dept has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 42.6°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: May averages 2.6" and January 0.4". The three wettest months together take 41% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
How Denver Water Dept's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 76 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 15.9" between them, or roughly 0.21 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Winter brings real snow to Denver Water Dept
Denver Water Dept averages 40.7 inches of snowfall a year, with March the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 23 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 40.7 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 23 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 26% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 12
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
165 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,262
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,045
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CO closest to Denver Water Dept on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (53°F here).
- Bowling Green, MO 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Corona, NM 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Lancaster, PA 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Perry, IL 53°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (15.8" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Kimball, NE 15.8" · 0.0" off
- Bagdad, AZ 15.9" · 0.0" off
- Casper, WY 15.9" · 0.0" off
- Two Rivers, AK 15.8" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Denver Water Dept
heating led · dry · mid swing
Denver Water Dept's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,262 annual heating degree days against 1,045 for cooling. Its 42.6°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Denver Water Dept's frost-free season lasts about 165 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Denver Water Dept coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 34°F (1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Denver Water Dept typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Denver Water Dept snow peak
March
Denver Water Dept averages 40.7 inches of snow a year, with March the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Denver Water Dept's climate
How much snow does Denver Water Dept get? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Denver Water Dept get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Denver Water Dept? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Denver Water Dept's primary station: DENVER WATER DEPT (USC00052223). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Denver Water Dept; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Denver Water Dept comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.