Summer heat will engulf metro Denver and other cities along Colorado’s Front Range Wednesday under sunny blue skies mostly devoid of clouds, according to the National Weather Service.
Breezes in the afternoon, with wind gusting at speeds up to 18 miles per hour, are expected to help disperse ground-level ozone air pollution that tends to increase in hot weather.
The high temperature in Denver will be 93 degrees on Wednesday, decreasing to 63 degrees at night, weather service forecasters said. On Thursday, the high temperature is expected to be 94 degrees.
Temperatures approaching 100 degrees were forecast for parts of southeastern Colorado on Wednesday.
In the mountains west of the Front Range, a few sudden rain showers may develop, bringing bursts of wind at speeds up to 45 mph, forecasters said. These showers, if they happen, most likely would occur over South Park, in the southern mountain foothills, and along the Palmer Divide between Denver and Colorado Springs.
More rain may fall Thursday afternoon and Friday on the eastern plains, forecasters said, but Denver likely will stay dry.
State officials said air pollution concentrations had not reached the levels deemed harmful to human health. “Shifting and breezy winds are expected to keep ozone concentrations in the good to moderate range through Wednesday afternoon,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s latest air quality summary said Wednesday morning.