Warm down-slope winds off the Front Range and a strong ridge of high pressure over the Denver metro area combined to push temperatures to another record high Friday afternoon.
“It is amazing. The air is pretty dry right now,” said Mike Baker, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder.
At 12:53 p.m., the thermometer at Denver International Airport peaked at 82 degrees, which is 2 degrees higher than the record for Oct. 28.
It was the second day in a row that a longstanding heat record went down.
On Thursday, the high was 82 degrees, which beat a 50-year temperature record of 80 degrees set in 1966. That’s 21 degrees above normal for this time of the year, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
On Friday, it should be nearly an identical day but with a few more clouds scuttling over the metro area from the southwest. The previous record for Oct. 28 was 80 degrees.
NWS meteorologist Frank Cooper advises people who bask in the warmth to smear suntan lotion on exposed skin and forget that Halloween is only three days away.
Friday night, the low temperature will be about 51 degrees.
Over the weekend, temperatures will continue be above normal but not threaten any records, the NWS predicts.
The high will be around 73 degrees on Saturday and 75 on Sunday.
On Monday, it will be 68 degrees for trick-or-treating goblins at 6 p.m. It will still be 58 degrees by 8 p.m., Baker said.
“It looks pretty pleasant,” he said.
It won’t be until Tuesday that temperatures will drop into the 60s. The next chance for rain is Wednesday night, the NWS says.
