Temperatures are falling fast tonight, after a hot, dry day along the Front Range and Eastern Plains that produced fire-danger warnings and near-record heat.
The city fell 1 degree short of a weather record this afternoon, as the mercury soared to 89 at 3:22 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters expected a low of 54 degrees before midnight.
The average high for the date over the past 30 years is 74.
The Denver area should see slightly cooler temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs in the low 80s, before cooling to the upper 60s Thursday and upper 70s Friday.
The high-pressure ridge over the Front Range is responsible for the late surge of summer-like temperatures.
Fort Collins and Greeley airports both recorded 90-degree readings today. Highs were in the 70s across most of the high country.
From mid-morning until 7 p.m. a region that stretched from Larimer and Weld counties through Fort Morgan, Byers and the Lyons area, including east Adams and Arapahoe counties and northeast Elbert County, was under a critical red flag fire danger warning.
No significant fires were reported, however.
