DENVER — The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the Denver metro area on Monday as high temperatures are expected to flirt with triple-digits.
We’re likely to surpass 90 degrees on Sunday, before a dry and even warmer air mass moves in on Monday.
“Max temperatures on the plains are expected to climb well into the 90s with a few locations possibly reaching the century mark,” according to the NWS Boulder forecast discussion.
The heat advisory covers the I-25 urban corridor, including Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and Greeley. The advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.
The record high for July 17 is 102 degrees, set in 2010, according to the NWS. The normal high for the date is 90 degrees.
In western and southwestern Colorado, a heat advisory is in effect Monday afternoon in the Grand Valley, the Debeque to Silt Corridor and the Central Gunnison and Uncompahgre River Basin, warning of temperatures as high as 107 degrees.
What will likely be the hottest day of the year thus far means Coloradans should drink lots of water, limit outdoor activity to morning or evening hours and wear loose-fitting clothing if they do need to be outside. The NWS urges people to take action at possible signs of heat-related illness.
Denver will stay in the 90s on Tuesday and potentially again on Wednesday before highs dip back into the upper 80s Wednesday and through the end of the week.
Denver Parks and Recreation will open all currently operating recreation centers to the public as cooling stations during regular business hours with fee-free access to all.
Additionally, the city said Denver Public Library locations (with the exception of Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library and Westwood Branch Library) are available to the public as an indoor reprieve from the heat.
Clear/clearing skies tonight
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) July 16, 2023
Sunny and warm Sunday with NO storms!
HOT weather by Monday with highs approaching 100 across the plains and I-25 Corridor. #COwx pic.twitter.com/CSaDGIcTsK
Ahead of the heat wave, it has been considerably cooler this summer than last. The summer of 2022 was the third-warmest on record in Denver, according to NWS data.
The city saw 67 days of 90-degree weather – including 12 straight from July 12-23 – last year at Denver International Airport, the weather station of record. As of Saturday, we’d only had four such days thus far in 2023.
The record warm summer that is baking nearly the entire globe by flirting with some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded, meteorologists said. Heat records are being shattered all over the U.S. South, from California to Florida.
June was also the hottest June on record, according to several weather agencies. Scientists say there is a decent chance that 2023 will go down as the hottest year on record, with measurements going back to the middle of the 19th century.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
