Take along the shades, short sleeves and sunscreen Monday, because Denver will flirt with record heat for the date, the National Weather Service said this afternoon.
The forecast high for Monday is 88 degrees. The record for Sept. 26 is 90 degrees. Just last year, Denver tied the 90-degree benchmark set in 1892.
The 30-year average for the date is 74 degrees, according to weather data.
Temperatures should cool quickly Monday evening, however, tumbling to a low of 53 degrees before midnight, forecasters said.
Sunny skies will continue over the city through the workweek, with the heat subsiding to a more seasonable 79 degrees Tuesday, before bouncing up to 85 Wednesday, 7 degrees short of the record for date set last year.
Thursday could see a high of 70 degrees Thursday, 79 Friday and 81 Saturday, according to the forecast.
The first sign of rain in the metro region is a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms next Sunday.
Today’s high was 86 degrees, well short of the record of 91 set in 1998.
The National Weather Service posted its outlook for October this weekend.
Forecasters expect the month to be slightly warmer than normal, with near normal precipitation.
Average daily highs in October are 65.3 degrees, and average lows are 36.6 degrees.
Denver normally gets about an inch of precipitation spread out over five days.
Though normally the calmest, sunniest weather month, October is one of extremes in the metro region.
In 1969, Denver set a record high for the date of 89 degrees on Oct. 16, then two weeks later set a record low for Oct. 30 of 7 degrees
Last year temperatures ranged from 95 degrees on Oct. 3 to 20 degrees on Oct. 28.
There were two days with readings below freezing in Denver last year, with no snowfall during the month, compared to 17 days in October 2009, according to the National Weather Service.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
