DENVER – Strong storms are firing up across the Front Range Friday afternoon bringing the threat of large hail, damaging wind and a possible brief tornado.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the Denver metro area stretching across the eastern portion of Colorado until 9 p.m. Friday.
Counties in the watch include:
- Adams
- Arapahoe
- Baca
- Bent
- Cheyenne
- Crowley
- Denver
- Douglas
- Elbert
- El Paso
- Huerfano
- Kiowa
- Kit Carson
- Larimer
- Las Animas
- Lincoln
- Logan
- Morgan
- Otero
- Phillips
- Prowers
- Pueblo
- Sedgwick
- Washington
- Weld
- Yuma
A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for East central Washington County until 5:30 p.m. for the possibility of half-dollar-sized hail.
The storm is around, or 16 miles southeast of Akron, moving north at 30 mph.
“Storms and showers will likely roll through the metro between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. and then push over the northeastern plains after that,” said Denver7 Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo. “Our risk of severe weather covers the entire eastern half of the state up and through the northern Front Range mountains.”
The slight risk (level 2 of 5) stretches along I-25 and east also includes the communities of Greeley, Fort Morgan down through Castle Rock, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder.
“We’re going to be under a slight chance of severe weather and that includes the larger hail and damaging winds. We could see hail over 1 ½” in diameter and wind gusts over 60 mph,” added Hidalgo.
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Colorado weather blog: Severe storms possible Friday across the Denver metro
An area stretching from Fort Collins, Estes Park through Boulder down to Fairplay are under a marginal risk of severe weather where storms could begin to form by about 1 p.m. before continuing to roll across the Denver metro area.
Over 300 flight delays were reported at Denver International Airport as of 3 p.m., according to Flight Aware.
The severity of the storms will depend on how much heat is available in the atmosphere this afternoon with high temperatures expected to warm into the low to mid 80s.
As of Friday morning, no severe weather watches were issued.
After the first round of potentially severe storms, more showers are expected into the evening hours in Denver.
“We have another chance for a few more storms tonight after sunset, but the risk of severe weather at that point will be a little slower,” said Hidalgo.
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Overnight, skies clear out leaving behind a beautiful start to Saturday with low temps around 60 degrees warming to 92 degrees and a few afternoon storms.
On Father’s Day, drier conditions settle into Denver where the high temp is expected to reach 95 degrees.
Denver7 Meteorologists have issued a Denver7 weather action day, so refresh this story through the day for updates on the latest weather watches and potential storm warnings.
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