Temperatures are expected to soar Friday about 20 degrees above average for Denver, forecasters say, but a frigid Arctic system is head to Colorado to ring in the new year.
With brisk winds out of the southwest gusting up to 18 mph it could be as high as 62 degrees Friday in downtown Denver, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
A wind shift Friday night will bring northeasterly breezes into the metro area, signaling a cool down. By Tuesday the high will struggle to get out of the single digits.
The cool down starts Saturday, with a high of 39 degrees at the recording station at Denver International Airport. Temperatures will be in the 20s by 11:59 p.m. Saturday for the last minute of 2016 in Denver.
On New Year’s Day, it will be mostly sunny with a high of around 46 degrees, the NWS predicts.
The cold snap officially begins Monday, when the high will be right at freezing at 32 degrees. There is a 10 percent chance of snow on Monday and a chance of snow both on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday the high will be only 12 degrees, and the low near zero Tuesday night.
The high Wednesday will stay below 10 degrees and Wednesday night temperatures will dip to minus-4 degrees.
Although it will be mostly sunny Thursday, the expected high should barely break 10 degrees, the NWS says.
