DENVER – As the summer heat sizzles across Colorado, on this throwback Thursday, the data nerds over here at Denver7 wanted to look back at the scorcher that was the summer of 2012.
That year in Denver saw several heat records shattered, including the most 100-degree days in a single year.
National Weather Service in Boulder (NWS) records show the Mile High City reached 100 degrees over 13 different days that year.
Just behind 2012’s heat wave, Denver saw 7 days of 100-degree temps in 2005 and most recently in 2024, recorded 6 days at the century mark.
“Just last year it was such a hot summer, in fact, our second hottest on record in the city,” said Denver7 meteorologist Danielle Grant.
By comparison, so far this year, June has not recorded a single 100-degree day. The closest has been a 99 degree day last Friday.
“It has been a relatively quiet and mild month of June, rewind the clock about 13 years going back to 2012, it was a very hot year here in the Denver metro. On June 25 and 26, we hit 105 degrees in Denver, which is the hottest temperature we’ve ever seen here in the city,” said Grant.
Denver has reached the highest-ever recorded temperature 5 different times in its history, including twice in 2012 and again in June 2018.
Before that, Denver only reached 105° on July 20, 2005 and way back on August 8, 1878. Looking at Denver's weather history, the Mile High City has only topped out at 100 degrees or more on 111 days.
NWS records show there have only been 15 occurrences of consecutive 100° days.
While it’s rare to see 2 back-to-back days reaching 100 °, a five-day period in late June 2012 stands out. Between June 22 and June 26, the city’s official thermometer at Denver International Airport soared to 100 degrees each of those days.
It comes as no surprise that June 2012 in Denver was the warmest on record.
“Looking at our top 7 warmest Junes on record, we still go back to that year when had the daytime high and overnight low averaged out to 75 degrees,” said Grant. “To put that into perspective, what’s average around here – we should be in the upper 60s.”
So far this year, that’s pretty much where June has landed with an average temperature of 68.2°. Denver has not seen its high temperature reach the century mark this year.
The earliest we've ever hit 100° was on both June 11, 2022 and June 11, 2013. The latest 100 degree day in the year happened on September 5, 2020.
Looking ahead, Denver is about to roll into the heat of the summer season, so what can the metro expect.
Grant said warmer-than-average temperatures should be expected.
The 90-day outlook by the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting warmer-than-average temps for much of the United States, including Colorado.
In the video player below, Denver7 meteorologist Danielle Grant breaks down the 2012 summer that shattered weather records.