The heat on Friday fell one degree shy of tying a record, but the weather still made news.
Friday’s temperatures at Denver International Airport reached an official high of 99 degrees — the hottest day of the year so far.
The heat didn’t overload the temporary transformer replacing one that blew in an Xcel Energy substation in east Denver earlier this month, but an afternoon microburst knocked down some power lines and caused different headaches for Xcel.
Mark Stutz, a spokesman for Xcel, said a microburst — an isolated gust of cooler air that is the result of precipitation that evaporates before it hits the ground — did cause problems as it knocked down power lines and trees.
“There were about a dozen instances, but there are no more than 100 customers without service,” Stutz said. “The microburst did give us some problems, but we’re getting to them.”
In one case, Federal Boulevard was closed for more than an hour between West Colfax and 14th avenues when a car drove onto a power line that the winds had just brought down along with some light poles.
Denver Fire Department crews asked the driver to stay inside the vehicle to avoid the risk of electrocution until power to the line was shut down.
The microburst was also blamed for broken tree limbs at South Clarkson Street and East Bayaud Avenue, and a light pole fell near South Quitman Street and West Roanoke Place.
The Federal Aviation Administration also issued a ground stop for about 25 minutes at DIA starting at 5:15 p.m. because of the microburst.
Xcel had anticipated a possibility for problems caused by high demand because of the heat Friday and had released a request asking customers to conserve their energy.
Xcel crews have still been busy installing another part of the temporary fix for the transformer that blew at a substation at East 14th Avenue and Jackson Street on June 7.
“It’s half the size of a railroad boxcar, so it takes a long time,” said Tom Henley, another Xcel spokesman. “There are lots of people working on it.”
Xcel expects to have that part of the temporary fix complete by the second week of July. To create a permanent fix, Xcel has to order parts to have them built and shipped out for crews to install.
Henley said the temporary fix should hold through the hot days of the rest of the summer.
Friday was the seventh day this year with a temperature of 90 degrees or more. Denver averages 33 such days each year, but there were only 18 such days during a relatively cool 2009.
The National Weather Service expects temperatures in the lower 90s today and lower 80s on Sunday. There’s a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms each afternoon.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1638 or yrobles@denverpost.com
