Denver Weather: Record Cold, Unprecedented Temperatures For Early March

DENVER (CBS4) - The Front Range has experienced frigid temperatures never before observed in early March. On Sunday, Denver's official thermometer at Denver International Airport never climbed higher than 6 degrees. That shattered the previous record for the "coldest maximum" temperature on March 3 which was 14 degrees set in 1978.

In other words, it had never stayed so cold on March 3 in Denver.

Then on Monday at 3:28 a.m., DIA dropped to -5 degrees which was enough for another record. This time is was the the coldest temperature ever recorded on March 4. The previous record was -3 degrees also set in 1978.

The weekend cold was also accompanied by snow. Denver officially measured 4.3 inches of snow on Saturday and Saturday. That brings our total for the season to 32.1 inches which is 4.5 inches below normal through March 3. It's a remarkable turnaround from a month ago when snow was well over a foot below normal.

The mountains of Colorado also received a lot of snow over the weekend. Here are 48 hour snow totals for ski areas:

Silverton Mountain 34"
Copper Mountain 32"
Breckenridge 31"
Beaver Creek 28"
Wolf Creek 27"
Vail 26"
Telluride 24"
Keystone 24"
Winter Park 22"
Purgatory Resort 20"
Arapahoe Basin 20"
Loveland 19"
Aspen Highlands 19"
Aspen Mountain 17"
Snowmass 16"
Steamboat 14"
Eldora 13"

NEW WEATHER VIDEO: Several Avalanches Send Snow Onto Interstate 70 In Colorado