Ah, Denver — the sunshine state!
Forget that , or the 300 days of sunshine in Denver folklore: there’s real, tangible and impressive proof for the amount of sunshine Denver’s seen this summer.
Based on observations at Denver’s official climate site, Tuesday marked Denver’s first fully cloudy day in more than four months. That’s right: Denver hadn’t seen a fully cloudy day since May 21 until a dreary Tuesday filled with drizzle and low clouds.
To be sure, though, cloudy is somewhat of a subjective term; of course, Denver has seen clouds and plenty of rainfall since May 21. If you see clouds all day but a peek of sunshine at the end of the day, that, in a sense, can count as a non-cloudy day. So for the terms of this analysis, we’ll use that threshold: a day with fully overcast skies throughout the day, as observed at Denver International Airport. DIA, of course, is home to the city’s official climate observation site.
Weather observers at DIA track cloud cover by listing hourly observations. Those can range from “clear” to “overcast,” and/or all different modes of precipitation (). , a number is applied to the overall cloud conditions, ranging from 0 (fully clear, not a cloud in the sky) to 10 (fully cloudy skies all day).
Tuesday’s “10” rating — meaning fully cloudy skies all day — marked the first fully cloudy day since May 21. You might remember May 21 as the day that produced more than 3 inches of late-season snowfall.
How common is it to go more than four months without a fully cloudy day? In part due to the subjective nature of assessing cloud conditions, it’s hard to gauge for sure. But here’s one clue: Denver went more than three months (late June to Tuesday) without a cloudy observation at noon, and Denver averages 13 cloudy noon observations in July, August and September combined. Based on that clue alone, it’s probably safe to say that it’s fairly rare to go that long without a fully cloudy day.
Fun fact: Denver hasn't had a fully cloudy day since June!
Noon observations at KDEN show zero days of overcast skies since late June. Even for here, that's pretty remarkable!
— Chris Bianchi (@BianchiWeather)
Of course, all that extra summer sunshine’s also had a huge impact in enhancing drought conditions statewide. About 11% of Colorado is under official drought conditions, and more than half the state is now considered to be “abnormally dry.”
But for sunbathers and fans of Vitamin D, you’ve had more sunshine than usual going back to late spring.
Trying to convince a friend to move here? Or simply want to brag? Tell all your jealous out-of-state friends: Denver’s first fully cloudy day in 133 days was just this Tuesday.
