DENVER (CBS) – Although you wouldn’t know it judging by the weather we have had already, December is on average Denver’s 4th snowiest month with an average of 8.7 inches of snow. But, even with that 4th place standing, December snow storms can pack quite a punch. Some of the biggest ever have happened during this time of year. The Christmas blizzard of 1982 set a 24 hour snowfall record with 23.6 inches of snow.

The record setter for the Most Snow From One Storm happened int 1913 when the city was buried with 45.7 inches of snow over 6 days.

What we have seen a lot of so far this season is wind. Chinook winds in particular. These are warm, westerly winds that can realy kick the temperatures up to above normal levels. In some years these winds have been know to blow as much as 100 mph.

Just for comparison, last year December ranked as the 7th coldest on record with an above normal snowfall tally of 11.1 inches of snow.

- By Meteorologist Dave Aguilera