The climate of Denver
Dfa Hot-summer humid continental. Hot summers and cold winters, with rain all year. A big seasonal swing. Summers can be hot and humid, winters are cold with snow, and there is no dry season.
Denver is north of the equator, so summer falls in June to August and winter in December to February. The 1901 to 1930 map put Denver in Dfb (warm-summer humid continental), so its zone is different from a century ago.
Denver: then, now and by 2100
| Map | Climate zone | Compared with now |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 to 1930 | Dfb Warm-summer humid continental | Different from now |
| 1991 to 2020 (now) | Dfa Hot-summer humid continental | - |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP1-2.6 (low emissions) | Cfa Humid subtropical | Different from now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP2-4.5 (middle of the road) | Cfa Humid subtropical | Different from now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP5-8.5 (high emissions) | BSk Cold semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
The 2071 to 2099 rows are model projections under three emissions scenarios, not forecasts. The 1901 to 1930 row is a reconstruction. All come from Beck et al. (2023).
Under the middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP2-4.5), the model puts Denver in Cfa (humid subtropical) in 2071 to 2099, instead of Dfa now. Under the high-emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5) it is BSk (cold semi-arid (steppe)).
Cities with the same climate as Denver
Other big cities that are Dfa (hot-summer humid continental) in 1991 to 2020, at most two per country:
Where Denver's future climate exists today
In the SSP2-4.5 map for 2071 to 2099, Denver is Cfa. These cities are Cfa in 1991 to 2020, so they give a rough idea of the future climate (the real conditions would differ in many ways).
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Population of Denver from GeoNames: 729,019 (rank 791 in our list of 1,000). Climate data: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. Data sources and licences.