© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Records Fall As Temperatures Rise

Marlana Shipley
/
Flickr – Creative Commons

The end of June typically brings hot and dry weather in Colorado, but this year it’s breaking records.

It was 105 degrees in Denver on Monday. That easily broke the daily record and tied the all-time high temperature from 1878 and 2005.

Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service predicted a  high of 103 for Denver, a degree shy of the daily record.

“We’re going to be closing in today, there’s a possibility we could break a record, but we’ll just have to wait and see on that one,” says Jim Kalina, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Boulder.

As of 1pm Tuesday, temperatures registered 100 degrees at Denver International Airport, with the possibility of the mercury climbing a few more degrees in the next several hours.

Even if today’s record isn’t shattered, another record has been matched. Temperatures have now been in the triple-digits for the past five days, which is the longest stretch of over 100 degree days in Denver history. Only twice before, in 1989 and 2005, have that many consecutive days been so hot.

The extreme heat extends across Colorado, with at least eight cities hitting at least 100 degrees Tuesday. Many places are experiencing even higher temperatures than the capitol, including Wray in the northeast, with a high of 108.

The rest of the week looks like it will be only slightly cooler.

“Over the next several days it’ll be in the 90s,” says Kalina. “But it won’t be as hot as it has been for the last five days.”

As for the rest of the summer, climate modeling suggests the above average temperatures will continue for the next several months.

I am covering science stories at KUNC this summer as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow, a program that matches scientists with news outlets so that they can try their hand at translating science to regular folks. My normal day job is as a graduate student at Yale University, doing immunology research with Dr. David Schatz. Previously, I graduated from Haverford College, majoring in English and biology.
Related Content