Afternoon clouds ended Denver’s push for a heat record this afternoon as the mercury topped out at 98 degrees at 3:10 p.m. at Denver International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
The record for the date, set in 2003, is 100 degrees. The normal temperature for the date is 10 degrees cooler, according to the National Weather Service.
The metro area will remain in the upper 80s and lower 90s the rest of the week, about 10 degrees cooler than records for each date, forecasters said.
After that, it’s time for Colorado’s monsoon season, which typically brings cooler, wetter weather, said Jim Kalina, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Boulder.
The average start date of the North American Monsoon Season, which includes Colorado and other Western states, is July 19.
The seasonal climatic pattern usually lasts through September, bringing moisture to typically parched region of the Southwest. The beginning of the season is typically welcomed with days of afternoon thunderstorms and dew points above 54 degrees as upper level conditions shift from very dry west winds to moist flows from the east and southeast.
The recent hot weather has been the result of a high pressure system in southern New Mexico, which causes hot, cloudless conditions to the north, Kalina said. If the front shifts to the east, it could invite monsoonal conditions to the state, he said.
