Denver's hottest day of the year so far has been 90°, which has happened three times to date: June 10, 11, and today. After another day well into the 90s today for many metro area locations, temperatures will remain in the outlook for the next several days.

This 'streak' will likely end Monday when we cool a bit, but this break may be short-lived.

With the arrival of the 90s, I felt it time to review how many 90 degree days we typically see in Denver each year to put things into some perspective. To do so, we need to look at two Denver locations, DIA and Stapleton.

Average number of days 90° above
DIA came on-line in mid-1994. So to figure the city's average days of 90s per year I'd like a longer period of record than 1995 to 2016 and will include Stapleton's 1948 to 2016 data also.

DIA, in its 20 summers, has an average of 43 90° days per year. 2015 beat that with 48, yet 2014 was cooler with only 29 90° days. Here's a look at the history:

Now, for Stapleton. The former airport's weather station averages 35 90° days per year since 1948. That's a notable difference from Denver International but consider that the two locations are about 12 miles apart and local microclimates will differ. Also, consider that the average is 40 days of 90° or higher during the same period as DIA (1995 through 2015) which is close and only a difference of the two microclimates.

Here's how Stapleton's data has looked since 1948:

Longest stretches of 90° days
Also of interest, considering we are in a 4-day stretch of 90°s expected, are the longest period of consecutive 90° days.

For DIA:

For Stapleton:

Hot outlook
The summer's outlook is a hot one due in part to us coming out of one of the top three El Nino's ever recorded.

The CFSv2 and JAMSTEC climate outlooks look warmer than average for the region. Here is the latest JAMSTEC summer temperature outlook:

It will remain to be seen if we set any top-10 consecutive 90° day records this year, or if we beat that average of 43 days per year. Certainly both will be possible with the much warmer than average temperatures we've had so far in 2016.

In the meantime, get ready for a very warm weekend. Temperatures Sunday will be in the upper 90s across much of eastern Colorado, with scorching heat across the southwest: