During the month of February 2013, Denver, CO recorded a 58°F difference between maximum and minimum temperatures (20°F less than January!). This fact tells us nothing about how temperatures compare to climatological norms however. For the entire month, Denver was 2.4°F below normal (30.1°F vs. 32.5°F). The maximum temperature of 63°F was recorded on the 17th while the minimum temperature of 5°F was recorded on the 22nd.
Figure 1. Time series of temperature at Denver, CO during February 2013. Daily high temperatures are in red, daily low temperatures are in blue, daily average temperatures are in green, climatological normal (1981-2010) high temperatures are in light gray, and normal low temperatures are in dark gray. [Source: NWS]
Precipitation was finally above normal again during February 2013. During the month, 0.77″ of liquid water equivalent precipitation fell, compared to 0.37″ normally. For the first time in my life, rain fell across the Denver metro area in February! On the 6th, it rained very lightly, just enough to make the streets and plants wet. To add to the oddity and rarity of the situation, the ground was still wet with liquid on the morning of the 7th – it wasn’t cold enough to freeze the rain overnight. A similar event occurred in late January. Conditions returned to normal in the second half of the month. Measurable snow finally fell on the 20th and 21st of the month. Then a significant winter storm hit the area on the 24th, dropping ~9″ of snow across the metro area. In total, the NWS recorded 14.1″ of snow, 8.2″ more than the normal of 5.9″ for the month.
While more precipitation fell than normal during the month, the drought impacting the region was not broken. Above-average precipitation will have to fall for longer than one month for that to happen.