As advertised, following a week of severe weather across much of the Front Range, clearing skies and dry air cranked the burner up to an 11 today and brought the hottest temperatures of the year so far to the Denver metro area. The mercury hit 97 degrees at Denver International Airport this afternoon, which ties for 2nd hottest June 27th at the airport since 1994 (the record stands at 101).
This evening takes its time cooling down due to continued downslope southwesterly winds helping to compress the air, giving it extra warmth. You'll want to keep the water bottle handy if you've got any outdoor activity plans tonight. Lows will ultimately cool to the low 60s across the metro, with 40s and 50s into the high country.
Fire danger has been high today, with Red flag warnings still in place west of I-25 all the way to the western slope, through midnight. In the northern and western parts of the area, wildfire smoke is getting thicker. This is from fires burning in Utah, and Arizona.
▶️ Watch meteorologist Casey Dorn's forecast in the player below.
A heat dome is setting up over the mid-section of the country, with a low over the pacific northwest (prompting winter storm warnings in parts of the mountains of Montana!). This is generating strong southwest winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere. That's pulling in the smoke, and leading to the high fire danger across the state.
An air quality advisory is in place across the northern and western portions of the state where the smoke is thickest, through 9:00 AM tomorrow, including Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, and Rocky Mountain National Park. If you have respiratory issues, you'll want to avoid spending a lot of time outside until the smoke clears, and keep your windows closed this evening.
The wind will continue overnight but lighten substantially after midnight. We see more wind action tomorrow, though, mainly during the afternoon and evening timeframes. Red Flag Warnings will again be in place for much of the Front Range foothills and mountains and the central mountains where humidity again dips into the 10-15% range by afternoon.
Highs Sunday climb again to the upper 90s in the metro.
It's going to remain hot, hot, hot, through much of next week. A cold front will bring slight cooling to the northern Front Range on Monday, with highs down to the upper 80s - seasonal for this time of year in Denver. It'll still be gusty though!
Tuesday will bring a chance for a few isolated storms to the far northeastern plains back into the forecast as a system tries to drop in from the north. This action may try to clip the metro. But the main story will remain heat - with highs staying in the 90s throughout next week and warming to the upper 90s once again by late week! The heat is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
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