Denver Weather: Another Record Broken As Temperatures Plunge To Near Zero

DENVER (CBS4) - The temperature in Denver officially dropped to 3 degrees above zero early Wednesday morning. It was cold enough to shatter the previous record low for October 30 by 4 degrees. It was our third record temperature in 3 days and one more record is expected Thursday morning.

The records on Monday and Tuesday were related to the daily high temperatures. Denver only reached 21 degrees on Monday and 18 degrees on Tuesday. It had never stayed so cold on these dates in the past so new "record coldest maximum" temperatures were set for October 28 and October 29.

One final record is expected Thursday morning when the combination of clear skies, mainly light winds, and snow on the ground allows temperatures to plunge below zero along the Front Range. If the temperature manages to drop below -2° early Thursday, the all-time record low for October in Denver will be broken.  That record was set on October 29, 1917.

Looking ahead to Thursday, temperatures will rise during the day and will hover around the freezing mark for trick-or-treating on Thursday evening.

With the extreme cold, police in the Denver area are warning residents not to leave their cars running unattended. Police in Denver received five reports of puffer vehicles that were stolen by the end of the morning rush hour on Wednesday.

The back-to-back storms that slammed Denver and Colorado's Front Range this week brought a about a foot of snow. The first storm officially brought 3.8 inches while the second storm brought 7.7 inches. October 2019 is now the 12th snowiest on record.

The snow and cold led many school districts in Colorado to close school on Wednesday.