Weather in Denver in March

A good month. March works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Overnight lows average -0.2 °C, so mornings start frozen even when the afternoon comes right.

March ranks 6 of 12 in Denver: past the worst of the year but short of October, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 7 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Mornings need gloves even when the forecast high looks civilised.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 16 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 28.3 °C and the coldest night fell to -15.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 37 mm — roughly 109% of the month's rain in one day.

March is moderately variable: 2 mm in the driest year against 95 mm in the wettest, around an average of 34 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 10.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 52%.

How March sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 5.2 °C warmer than February, and April adds another 4.1 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in March

11.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Denver's extremes of 15 and 9.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 37 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 1609 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets. Within March itself the daily swing is 14.4 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

March in Denver versus nearby

If Denver is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Aspen is the weaker option in March — 10.9 °C cooler, 5 days more rain. Moab is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: March is a compromise. October is 20 points better and is what Denver is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Denver

See all twelve months in Denver, or where else to go in March.