SPM 09-10-2021: Record Heat in Denver, Southern Colorado

Issue Date: Friday, September 10th, 2021
Issue Time: 8:40 AM MDT

Summary:

The high-pressure ridge covering the Western US continues to dominate our weather pattern in Colorado with yet another hot, dry, and hazy day thanks to smoke from western fires rotating around the ridge. The slow, eastward progression of the ridge has also allowed for temperatures to continue to creep up to record breaking heat with no precipitation in sight.

Several stations broke their record high temperatures yesterday. Denver saw a high of 96, breaking the previous record of 94 set in 1994. It’s often harder for Denver to see record heat due to the official observation location at DIA, which tends to be a few degrees cooler than within the city itself – making this new record that much more impressive!

A new daily record high in Denver! We hit 96 degrees today. We will most likely break another one tomorrow. @ashtoncbs4 @davecbs4 @chriscbs4 #cowx #4wx pic.twitter.com/ZDmzk8QZYp

— Lauren Whitney (@LaurenCBS4) September 9, 2021

In Southern Colorado, all three long-term climate stations broke their record high. Alamosa got up to 88, Colorado Springs to 96, and Pueblo to 99 degrees. The Pueblo WFO shared the following table with the previous records for each station.

New Record Highs were set today at Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Alamosa. Expect another round of record breaking heat tomorrow. #cowx pic.twitter.com/xSwTC71i9T

— NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) September 10, 2021

As expected, no flooding was reported on Thursday.

Click Here For Map Overview

The map below shows radar-estimated, rainfall gage-adjusted Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) across Colorado. The map is updated daily during the operational season (May 1 – Sep 30) by 11AM. The following six layers are currently available: 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation, as well as maximum 1-hour, 2-hour and 6-hour precipitation over the past 24 hour period (to estimate where flash flooding may have occurred). The accumulation ending time is 7AM of the date shown in the bottom right corner. Also shown optionally are vulnerable fire burn areas (post 2012), which are updated throughout the season to include new, vulnerable burn areas. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.