Denver has seen fewer than 10 days with highs 90°F or hotter in 2023, that's about to change
It's been years since we've seen such a slow start to our annual 90°F day tally in Denver. To date, Denver has recorded just seven 90°F+ days since the start of the year, which is the lowest count for the period we've seen since 2009.
In the years since 2015, every year has had at least 15 90°F days through July 20th until this year, with more than 30 (30!) days recording last year by this time.
Frequency of those sub-10 day years through July 20th has certainly waned in recent decades. The 50s and 60s was also a stretch that featured slow starts to the year, but in recent decades our 90°F day tallies have continued to outpace themselves.
Annually, 90°F degree days have become increasingly more frequent in Denver since 2000 as well. The chart below shows total number of days by year the city recorded a high of 90°F or greater. For years with less than 40 days the bar is blue, more than 40 is yellow. The last time we saw less than 40 90°F days in Denver was back in 2014. Ouch!
So, it's been a pleasant start to the warm season, but will it last?
Ridging that has been promoting remarkable and prolonged heat across the Southwest in recent weeks will propagate eastward a bit again in the coming days and as it does we'll see temperatures climb once more across the region.
Guidance suggests this will lead to some pretty good heat for the Denver area in the coming weeks from time to time.
The first push of hot air comes this weekend, with highs in the mid 90s by Sunday and upper 90s by Monday in Denver. We also see the blend of models showing 9 of the next 10 days with highs 90°F or warmer in Denver which will start to tick that 90°F degree day tally higher.
So, a bit of a break from the storms as we head into the weekend (though still some isolated chances remain) and a return to that mid-summer heat we have grown accustom to as well.
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Stay cool, folks!