Even though temperatures will drop about 15 degrees on Monday, warm dry winds blowing over the state out of the west and northwest could still make it tough for firefighters battling at least five wildfires across the upper half of Colorado.
“It’s still going to be a difficult day, especially with strong winds,” said Kyle Fredin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Winds out of the west will gust to between 35 and 40 mph, Fredin said. The relative humidity could be slightly higher than on Sunday, but still fairly low, at between 10 to 15 percent.
Temperatures will not climb as high as they were over the weekend in the Denver metro area, but dry, hot conditions elevate fire conditions in the mountains.
It will be dry on Monday, and the high is expected to be around 87 degrees, or about 15 degrees cooler than Sunday, according to the weather service.
The high on Sunday at Denver International Airport was 102 degrees, .
Dangerous fire conditions Sunday and early Monday morning pushed the Beaver Creek fire in north-central Colorado into Wyoming. The fire increased 23 percent or by 3,500 acres to nearly 19,000 acres, forest officials say.
Dry and windy conditions, increase the danger of fire in northeast and north central Colorado, according to the weather service.
Temperatures will drop to about 56 degrees Monday night, with wind gusts up to 21 mph.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the high temperature will be around 89 and 92 degrees respectively.
The next chance for afternoon rain and thunderstorms is on Thursday, when temperatures reach a high of about 87 degrees, according to the weather service.
There will be a chance of afternoon rain and thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday, when temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s to low 90s.
