Metro Denver residents face partly sunny and warm conditions, with possible light afternoon rain on Friday, a pattern carrying through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Any rain, and possible thunderstorms, will hit Denver after 3 p.m., meteorologists said, estimating the likelihood of rain Friday at 20%.
The high temperature in Denver on Friday will be 91 degrees, decreasing to 62 degrees at night, forecasters said. On Saturday, the high temperature is expected to be 89 degrees and on Sunday 85 degrees. Meteorologists estimated the chances of rain Sunday afternoon at 30%.
Over the weekend, scattered showers and a few thunderstorms developing over the mountains in the early afternoons will spread eastward from the foothills to the high plains east of Denver, weather service forecasters said. Most will produce only light rain. But wind could gust at speeds as fast as 45 miles per hour, forecasters said. On Sunday, a cold front is expected to bring lower temperatures and more wind.
In southwestern Colorado, drought conditions were widening. On the eastern plains, temperatures were expected to reach as high as 94 degrees.
Longterm, government climate scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have determined there’s a 95% chance that an El Nino pattern of warming sea surface temperatures will continue. This is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the central and eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean that affects weather. It has been associated with increased moisture in southern and eastern Colorado.
