Denver has rebounded from a frigid, 80-hour cold snap as temperatures climbed into the 30s Tuesday afternoon – but not before entering the record books.
The overnight low dipped to a bitter 19 degrees below zero early Tuesday, tying the record cold temperature for January 16 set back in 1930.
The low temp happened at 12:34 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Boulder. The minus-19 reading also happened minutes before midnight, meaning Monday’s low temperature came within one degree of the January 15 record of 20-below set back in 1888.
While we didn't break the all-time record low for Denver this morning (-29°F), we met a daily one! Maybe it's for the best, right?🥶The low was -19°F at 12:34 AM tying the record set in 1930. It dropped to -19° before midnight also, shy of the yesterday's record of -20°. #COwx
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) January 16, 2024
Denver International Airport – the weather station of record for Denver – saw dangerous wind chills at that hour. According to NWS data, the wind chill just before midnight was an incredible 38 degrees below zero. By 12:53 a.m. Tuesday, the wind chill was 31 below.
While more than chilly enough, the low of -19 degrees doesn’t come all that close to breaking Denver’s all-time record low. That happened on Jan. 9, 1875.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Colorado happened much more recently – an astonishing 61 degrees below zero on Feb. 1, 1985 in the small northwestern Colorado town of Maybell.
Denver7 | Weather
