Temperatures in Denver were warm Friday but fell just short of a record.
Denver’s record for Oct. 15 is 82 degrees, set in 1938, and Friday’s high was 81, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters had called for a possible high in Denver of 84 degrees, but warm winds out of the south didn’t kick up enough to push temperatures that high, said Frank Cooper, meteorologist with the Weather Service.
Still, Friday was unseasonably warm. The high temperature for Oct. 15 is normally 67 degrees.
“We’ve basically had a ridge sitting over Colorado for most of the late summer and early fall, and the storms have pushed to the north,” Cooper said. “That’s left us with windy and drier weather, basically lacking any kind of precipitation.”
This weekend, the weather should cool off a bit; the high temperature in Denver today should hit about 67 degrees under sunny skies, according to the Weather Service.
On Sunday, runners and spectators at Denver’s first Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon — and folks at Invesco Field at Mile High for the Denver Broncos game against the New York Jets — will bask under sunny skies with a forecast high of 75 degrees.
A cold front expected Monday will bring mostly cloudy skies, a chance of rain and cooler temperatures to the city. Monday’s high temperature in Denver should top out at about 56 degrees. Overnight lows in the city and surrounding areas should dip down to the upper 30s on Monday and Tuesday.
Denver has not experienced a temperature below freezing yet this fall; the average date of the first freeze is Oct. 7. The latest day of a first freeze in the city is Nov. 15, set in 1944.
