Geography

Main article: Geography of Denver Panorama of Denver, as seen from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Mount Evans can be seen to the left beyond the city skyline. Astronaut's photograph of Denver, Colorado, taken from the International Space Station. North is to the upper right of the image. Downtown Denver seen from the Highlands Neighborhood looking south. Sunrise in Denver on a typical January morning

Denver is located in the center of the Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the High Plains to the east. Denver's topography consists of plains in the city center with hilly areas to the west, south, and southeast. According to the United States Census Bureau the city has an area of 154.9 square miles (401.2 km2), of which 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), or 1.03%, is water. The City and County of Denver is surrounded by only three other counties: Adams County to the north and east, Arapahoe County to the south and east, and Jefferson County to the west.

Although Denver's nickname is the "Mile-High City" because its official elevation is one mile above sea level, defined by the elevation of the spot of a benchmark on the steps of the State Capitol building, the elevation of the entire city ranges from 5,130 to 5,690 feet. According to Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and the National Elevation Dataset, the city's elevation is 5,278 feet, which is reflected on various websites such as that of the National Weather Service.

Climate

Denver lies within the semi-arid, continental climate zone (Köppen climate classification BSk). It has four distinct seasons and receives a modest amount of precipitation spread through the year. Due to its inland location on the High Plains, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Denver, like all cities along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, is subject to sudden changes in weather. The climate here is very sunny, averaging 3,106 hours or 300 days of sunshine a year. July is the warmest month, with a daily average temperature of 74.2 °F (23.4 °C). Summers range from mild to hot with occasional afternoon thunderstorms and high temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on 38 days annually, and occasionally 100 °F (38 °C). December, the coldest month of the year, has a daily average temperature of 29.9 °F (−1.2 °C). Winters range from mild to occasional bitter cold, with periods of snow and low temperatures alternating with periods of relatively milder weather, the result of chinook winds. Episodes of 50 °F (10 °C)+ highs alternate with nights of sub-0 °F (−18 °C) lows. Snowfall is common throughout the late fall, winter and spring, averaging 53.5 inches (136 cm) for 1981−2010. The average window for measurable (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snow is October 17 thru April 27. Extremes in temperature range from −29 °F (−34 °C) on January 9, 1875 up to 105 °F (41 °C) as recently as June 25 and 26, 2012.

Climate data for Denver (1981−2010 normals) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 76 (24) 77 (25) 84 (29) 90 (32) 95 (35) 105 (41) 105 (41) 105 (41) 97 (36) 90 (32) 80 (27) 79 (26) 105 (41) Average high °F (°C) 44.0 (6.7) 46.2 (7.9) 54.4 (12.4) 61.5 (16.4) 71.5 (21.9) 82.4 (28) 89.4 (31.9) 87.2 (30.7) 78.5 (25.8) 65.3 (18.5) 52.1 (11.2) 42.8 (6) 64.6 (18.1) Average low °F (°C) 17.4 (−8.1) 18.9 (−7.3) 26.4 (−3.1) 33.3 (0.7) 42.7 (5.9) 52.3 (11.3) 58.9 (14.9) 57.9 (14.4) 48.3 (9.1) 36.6 (2.6) 24.5 (−4.2) 17.1 (−8.3) 36.2 (2.3) Record low °F (°C) −29 (−34) −25 (−32) −11 (−24) −2 (−19) 19 (−7) 30 (−1) 42 (6) 40 (4) 17 (−8) −2 (−19) −18 (−28) −25 (−32) −29 (−34) Precipitation inches (mm) .40 (10.2) .41 (10.4) 1.14 (29) 1.72 (43.7) 2.19 (55.6) 1.86 (47.2) 2.20 (55.9) 1.73 (43.9) .98 (24.9) 1.10 (27.9) .76 (19.3) .50 (12.7) 14.99 (380.7) Snowfall inches (cm) 7.0 (17.8) 6.1 (15.5) 9.6 (24.4) 5.6 (14.2) .7 (1.8) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1.1 (2.8) 4.4 (11.2) 9.0 (22.9) 9.9 (25.1) 53.5 (135.9) Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 4.7 5.7 7.1 8.6 10.5 8.5 8.8 9.1 6.6 5.6 5.6 5.1 86.0 Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 4.5 5.7 5.6 3.3 .5 0 0 0 .4 1.8 4.3 5.2 31.2 Mean monthly sunshine hours 213.9 211.9 254.2 276.0 291.4 315.0 325.5 306.9 273.0 248.0 195.0 195.3 3,106.1 Source #1: NOAA (extremes 1872−present) Source #2: HKO (sun only, 1961−1990)

Neighborhoods Denver's 79 official neighborhoods See also: List of Denver neighborhoods Downtown Denver Downtown cityscape, 1964. Includes Denver's oldest church, Trinity United Methodist, the first building of the Mile High Center complex, the old brownstone part of the Brown Palace Hotel, and the Cosmopolitan Hotel, since demolished.

The City and County of Denver has defined 80 official neighborhoods that the city and community groups use for planning and administration. Although the city's delineation of the neighborhood boundaries is somewhat arbitrary, it corresponds roughly to the definitions used by residents. These "neighborhoods" should not be confused with cities or suburbs, which may be separate entities within the metro area.

The character of the neighborhoods varies significantly from one to another and includes everything from large skyscrapers to houses from around the start of the 20th century to modern, suburban style developments. Generally, the neighborhoods closest to the city center are denser, older and contain more brick building material. Many neighborhoods away from the city center were developed after World War II, and are built with more modern materials and style. Some of the neighborhoods even farther from the city center, or recently redeveloped parcels anywhere in the city have either very suburban characteristics or are new urbanist developments that attempt to recreate the feel of older neighborhoods. Most neighborhoods contain parks or other features that are the focal point for the neighborhood.

Denver does not have larger area designations, unlike the City of Chicago which has larger areas that house the neighborhoods (IE: Northwest Side). Denver residents use the terms "north" "south" "east" and "west" loosely.

Denver also has a number of neighborhoods not reflected in the administrative boundaries. 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.

Well-known neighborhoods include the historic and trendy LoDo (short for "Lower Downtown"), part of the city's Union Station neighborhood; Capitol Hill, Baker, South City Park/Greektown, Highland, Cherry Creek, Washington Park, Lowry; Uptown; Curtis Park, part of the Five Points neighborhood; Alamo Placita, the northern part of the Speer neighborhood; Park Hill, a successful example of intentional racial integration; and Golden Triangle, in the Civic Center.

Parks and recreation

As of 2006, Denver had over 200 parks, from small mini-parks all over the city to the giant 314 acres (1.27 km2) City Park. Denver also has 29 recreation centers providing places and programming for resident's recreation and relaxation.

Chess players on the 16th Street Mall.

Many of Denver's parks were acquired from state lands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This coincided with the City Beautiful movement, and Denver mayor Robert Speer (1904–12 and 1916–18) set out to expand and beautify the city's parks. Reinhard Schuetze was the city's first landscape architect, and he brought his German-educated landscaping genius to Washington Park, Cheesman Park, and City Park among others. Speer used Schuetze as well as other landscape architects such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Saco Rienk DeBoer to design not only parks such as Civic Center Park, but many city parkways and tree-lawns. All of this greenery was fed with South Platte River water diverted through the city ditch.

Cheesman Park started as a cemetery.

In addition to the parks within Denver itself, the city acquired land for mountain parks starting in the 1911s. Over the years, Denver has acquired, built and maintained approximately 14,000 acres (57 km2) of mountain parks, including Red Rocks Park, which is known for its scenery and musical history revolving around the unique Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Denver also owns the mountain on which the Winter Park Resort ski area is operated in Grand County, 67 miles (110 km) west of Denver. City parks are important places for both Denverites and visitors, inciting controversy with every change. Denver continues to grow its park system with the development of many new parks along the Platte River through the city, and with Central Park and Bluff Lake Nature Center in the Stapleton neighborhood redevelopment. All of these parks are important gathering places for residents and allow what was once a dry plain to be lush, active, and green. Denver is also home to a large network of public community gardens, most of which are managed by Denver Urban Gardens, a non-profit organization.

Genesee Park is the largest of the Denver Mountain Parks.

Since 1974, Denver and the surrounding jurisdictions have rehabilitated the urban South Platte River and its tributaries for recreational use by hikers and cyclists. The main stem of the South Platte River Greenway runs along the South Platte from Chatfield Reservoir 35 miles (56 km) into Adams County in the north. The Greenway project is recognized as one of the best urban reclamation projects in the U.S., winning, for example, the Silver Medal Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence in 2001.

In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, reported that Denver had the 17th best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities.