DENVER — Warm and dry weather across eastern Colorado has raised the fire danger. A small wildfire developed west of Boulder late Monday afternoon. A Fire Weather Warning is in effect across most of eastern Colorado for Tuesday.
Skies will be partly cloudy early Tuesday with mild temperatures. Lows will stay in the middle 40s to low 50s for Denver and the eastern plains, with upper 20s to mid-30s in the mountains.
Windy, warm and dry conditions are in the forecast for Tuesday and the fire danger will be high across the eastern plains. Highs will soar into the upper 70s to middle 80s on the plains, with 40s to mid-50s in the mountains. Winds will be strong and gusty from the southwest at 20 to 40 mph with some 50 mph gusts possible. Relative humidity levels will be in the teens - warm, windy and dry - not a good combination! A Fire Weather Warning is in effect for much of eastern Colorado from Noon until 8 PM.
A strong storm system will begin to develop across Colorado on Wednesday. Rain and snow will begin over western Colorado late Tuesday and early Wednesday and will spread across the state during the day.
In Denver and across northeastern Colorado, rain will develop Wednesday morning and change to snow in the afternoon. Strong winds and heavy snow with blizzard conditions will develop Wednesday night for the northeast plains.
By Thursday morning, the heavy snow and strong winds will cause road closures on the northeast plains from just east of Denver through most of western Nebraska and parts of northwest Kansas.
This storm will also bring a dramatic drop in temperatures. Wednesday afternoon through Friday will be about 30 to 40 degrees colder than the temperatures Tuesday afternoon.
The weather will stay cool and unsettled for Denver and the eastern plains through next weekend.
