Metro Denver residents face hot and mostly sunny weather Wednesday under clear blue skies, ahead of a cooling trend bringing afternoon thunderstorms later this week, according to the National Weather Service.
The relatively warm, dry weather — following weeks of heavy rain that boosted vegetation statewide — has raised fire risks. The weather service issued “red flag” fire danger warnings around western Colorado.
The high temperature in Denver on Wednesday will be 90 degrees, weather service forecasters said. This will decrease to 82 degrees on Thursday and 74 degrees Friday, forecasters said. At night Wednesday, the low temperature is expected to be 60 degrees.
The heat is intensifying elsewhere, raising health concerns. Temperatures around southern Colorado were expected to be the hottest of the year, possibly exceeding 100 degrees in the Arkansas River Valley east of Pueblo. The weather service issued a heat advisory, effective between noon and 7 p.m., warning of unseasonably warm weather along the Interstate 25 corridor and adjacent plains.
Where thunderstorms form, it’s possible a few will become severe Wednesday evening, forecasters said. Those storms are most likely to hit after 6 p.m. in northeastern Colorado between Fort Collins and Akron and potentially could bring hail as big as tennis balls, bursts of wind at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, and tornadoes.
