The weather is warming and metro Denver residents can expect sunshine and blue skies Wednesday before storms forming over the mountains bring rain showers, lightning, and bursts of wind, according to the National Weather Service.
Most of the rain will fall in the mountains. Then, starting in the early afternoon, storms will spread eastward, rolling down by the evening onto Colorado Front Range cities along the Interstate 25 corridor and high plains, weather service forecasters said. Lightning bolts are likely during brief storms and wind gusts are expected to reach speeds up to 45 miles per hour.
Any rain may help clear a faint brown haze hanging over the Front Range urban corridor — smoke spreading from distant wildfires in Canada. Colorado air quality, meteorologists said, remained good early Wednesday despite the high-level haze.
The high temperature in Denver will be 79 degrees, forecasters said. At night, the temperature will decrease to 54 degrees.
Meteorologists estimated the likelihood of rain Wednesday afternoon in Denver and on the high plains at 30%.
The Cache la Poudre River, South Platte River, and streams flowing down as snow melts in the mountains were running high through the foothills northwest of Denver.
