Geography of Denver, Colorado

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The City and County of Denver, Colorado, is located at 39°43'35" North, 104°57'56" West (39.726287, -104.965486)[1] in the Colorado Front Range region. The Southern Rocky Mountains lie to the west of Denver and the High Plains lie to the east.

Satellite image of the Denver Metropolitan area
Satellite image of the Denver Metropolitan area

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 401.3 km² (154.9 mi²). 397.2 km² (153.4 mi²) of it is land and 4.1 km² (1.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.03% water.

Contents

[edit] Adjacent Counties

[edit] Adjacent Cities

[edit] Climate

Denver has a semi-arid climate with four distinct seasons. While Denver is located on the Great Plains, the weather of the city and surrounding area is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Rocky Mountains to the west. The climate, while generally mild compared to the mountains to the west and the plains further east, can often be very unpredictable. Measurable amounts of snow have fallen in Denver as late as Memorial Day and as early as Labor Day, and trace amounts have been recorded in every month of the year.

The average temperature in Denver is 50.1°F (10.1°C), and the average yearly precipitation is 15.81 in (402mm). The season's first snowfall generally occurs around October 19, and the last snowfall is about April 27, averaging 61.6 in (156cm) of seasonal accumulation. Although Denver's Convention and Visitor Bureau claims Denver receives over 300 sunny days a year [2], the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Denver receives about 250 days of sunshine a year [3].

Denver's winters are cold and dry, and although huge amounts of snow can fall on the mountains just west of the city, the effects of orographic lift dry out the air passing over the Front Range shadowing the city from precipitation for much of the season. Additionally, warm chinook winds can occasionally be felt as air passing over the mountains heats as it descends. Nevertheless, winters are generally cold, with the coldest temperature ever recorded in Denver was recorded on January 9, 1875 at -29°F (-34°C), though the last time Denver recorded a temperature below -20°F (-29°C) was in 1990.

Spring brings with it significant changes as Denver can be affected by air masses on all sides, whether arctic air from the north, which occasionally combines with Pacific storm fronts bringing snow to the city. In fact, March is Denver's snowiest month, averaging 11.7 in (29.7 cm) of snow. Additionally, warm air from the Gulf of Mexico can bring the first thunderstorms of the season, and continental warm air can bring summer-like warm and dry conditions.

A view of the raging Rockies from south Denver.
A view of the raging Rockies from south Denver.

Starting in mid-July, the monsoon brings tropical moisture into the city and with it come frequent short (and occasionally severe) late-afternoon thunderstorms. However, despite this tropical moisture, humidity levels during the day generally remain very low. The average high during the summer is 85°F (29°C) and the average low is 56°F (13°C).

In the autumn, the tropical monsoon flow dies down and as arctic air begins to approach it can combine with moisture from the Pacific Northwest to bring significant snowfall to the city – November is Denver's second snowiest month, and Denver's greatest recorded snowfall from a single storm, 45.7 in (116 cm), fell in late autumn from December 1 to December 6, 1913. [4]
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Extreme Daily Maximum °F 76 77 84 90 95 104 105 105 97 90 79 79
Average Daily Maximum °F 43 47 54 61 71 82 88 86 77 66 52 44
Average Daily Minimum °F 15 19 25 34 44 53 59 57 47 36 24 16
Extreme Daily Minimum °F -29 -25 -11 -2 19 30 42 40 17 -2 -18 -25
Data recorded from Downtown Denver (1872-1949), Stapleton Airport (1950-2/95), and Denver International Airport (Since 3/95). Averages 1971-2000. [5] [6]




Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average Precipitation in 0.51 0.49 1.28 1.93 2.32 1.56 2.16 1.82 1.14 0.99 0.98 0.63
Average Snowfall in 7.7 6.3 11.7 9.1 1.3 T 0.0 0.0 2.1 4.1 10.7 8.7
Precipitation data recorded from Stapleton Airport (1971-2/95), and Denver International Airport (3/95-2000). Snowfall data recorded from Stapleton Airport (1971-2000). Averages 1971-2000. [7]


[edit] Neighborhoods

Denver's 79 neighborhoods offer a variety of living experiences
Denver's 79 neighborhoods offer a variety of living experiences

Denver has 79 neighborhoods that the City and community groups use for planning and administration. Although the City's delineation of the neighborhood boundaries is somewhat arbitrary, the City's definitions of its neighborhoods roughly correspond to those used by residents.

Denver also has a number of neighborhoods not reflected in the City's administrative neighborhoods. Sometimes these neighborhoods reflect the way people in an area identify themselves; sometimes they reflect how others, such as real estate developers, have defined those areas.

Among the neighborhoods commonly spoken of are historic and trendy LoDo (short for "Lower Downtown"), part of the City's Union Station neighborhood; Capitol Hill, Washington Park; Uptown, part of the North Capitol Hill neighborhood; Curtis Park, part of the Five Points neighborhood; Alamo Placita, the northern part of the Speer neighborhood; and the Golden Triangle, roughly the Civic Center neighborhood.

See also: List of Neighborhoods in Denver

[edit] Transportation

Colfax Ave at Broadway, where the downtown and the normal city grid meet
Colfax Ave at Broadway, where the downtown and the normal city grid meet

[edit] Grid system

Main article: Street system of Denver, Colorado

Most of Denver has a straightforward street grid oriented to the four cardinal directions. Blocks are usually identified in hundreds from the median streets, identified as "0", which are Broadway (the west-east median) and Ellsworth Avenue (the north-south median). Colfax Avenue, the major east-west artery through Denver, is 15 blocks (1500 North) of the median. Avenues north of Ellsworth are numbered (with the exception of Colfax Avenue and a few others), while avenues south of Ellsworth are named.

There is also an older downtown grid system that was designed to be parallel to the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. Most of the streets downtown and in LoDo run northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast. This system has an unplanned benefit for snow removal; if the streets were in a normal N-S/E-W grid, only the N-S streets would get sun. With the grid pointed to the diagonal directions, the NW-SE streets get sun to melt snow in the morning and the NE-SW streets get it in the afternoon. The NW-SE streets are numbered, while the NE-SW streets are named. The named streets start at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway with the block-long Cheyenne Place. The numbered streets start underneath the Colfax and I-25 viaducts. There are 27 named and 44 numbered streets on this grid. There are also a few vestiges of the old grid system in the normal grid, such as Park Avenue, Morrison Road, and Speer Boulevard.

[edit] Highways

Denver is primarily served by the interstate highways I-25 and I-70. The intersection of the two interstates is referred to locally as "the mousetrap." I-70 runs east-west from Utah to Baltimore, Maryland. I-25 runs north-south from the New Mexico border through Denver to the Wyoming border. I-225 traverses neighboring Aurora and connects with I-25 in the southeastern corner of Denver. Additionally, I-76 begins from I-70 just west of the city in Arvada. It intersects I-25 north of the city and runs northeast to Nebraska where it ends at I-80. U.S. Route 6 connects downtown Denver to the suburb of Golden.

A highway expansion and transit project, dubbed "T-REX", was recently completed along the I-25 corridor. The project included the addition of extra freeway lanes, the redesign of several highway overpasses, and a light rail line along the I-25 corridor between downtown Denver and the Denver Technological Center. The massive project was finished in Fall of 2006, ahead of schedule and under budget.

[edit] Mass transportation

See also: TheRide
Denver RTD Light Rail car at 16th & Stout
Denver RTD Light Rail car at 16th & Stout

Mass transportation throughout the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area is managed and coordinated by the Regional Transportation District (RTD). RTD currently operates more than 1,000 buses serving 10,000 bus stops in 38 municipal jurisdictions. Additionally, RTD operates two light rail lines (the C Line and the D Line) with a total of 15.8 miles of track and serving 24 stations. Current RTD local fare is $1.50. FasTracks, an expansion project approved by voters in 2004, will allow light rail to serve cities such as Lakewood, Golden, and Aurora. Commuter rail lines will serve Boulder, Longmont and the Denver International Airport, while light rail is already under construction to the southeast as far as Lone Tree in the I-25 corridor as part of a reconstruction of the highway. The new line will be completed in late 2006.

[edit] Trains

Train service to Denver is provided by the Amtrak California Zephyr which runs from Chicago west through Denver to San Francisco. Additionally, there is the Ski Train provided by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad which takes passengers between Denver and the Winter Park Ski Resort. Denver's early years as a major train hub of the west are still very visible today. Trains stop in Denver at historic Union Station, where travelers can meet up with RTD's 16th Street Free MallRide or use light rail to tour the city.

World famous DIA
World famous DIA

[edit] Airports

  • Denver International Airport, the eleventh busiest airport in the world, sixth in the U.S. In 2005 it handled 43.4 million passengers. In land area it is the largest airport in the United States, covering 53 sq. miles.


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  2. ^ Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau - Denver's Climate
  3. ^ NNDC: Home Page
  4. ^ Denver Cold/Snow Statistics Page
  5. ^ NWS Denver-Boulder, CO - Local Climate Page
  6. ^ NWS Denver/Boulder, CO - Product Viewer
  7. ^ NWS Denver-Boulder, CO - Local Climate Page

[edit] External links