2018 was Third Hottest Summer on Record in Colorado

Data just released by the National Climate Data Center is telling us that overall 2018 was the 3rd Warmest Summer on Record in Colorado (June-August). Some places in Western and Southwestern Colorado even had their warmest Summer’s on record. (in red). The US as a whole tied for its fourth-hottest summer on record.

For Denver, summer 2018 was 10th warmest on record (1872 to 2018) with an average temperature of 73.4 degrees. It was the city’s 18th driest summer on record with only 2.39 inches of rainfall.

Most of the heat was on the Western Slope, with many record temperatures set there. More than half the state felt temperatures within the top 10% of warmest summer conditions on record. Compared to the rest of the country, the Western US suffered the most with the hottest weather, from western Colorado to California.

This summer was also the 22nd driest summer on record for Colorado. California suffered the most with the summer drought. This is in contrast to the rest of the US, who had its 25th wettest on record, largely because of heavy rainfall in areas of the northern corn belt and sections of New York to Virginia.