HOT weather is set to return following the cooler and wetter period over the past week or so.

The active weather, some severe thunderstorms, and cooler weather during the weekend are long gone. With the heat that is building in, it was good to get the moisture that we did across the plains, even as much of Colorado remained dry over the last week.

The following image shows the total precipitation in the past seven days. There is that notable line of very heavy precipitation from Denver's north side to the north of Fort Morgan.

Sadly, that image shows you the lack of rainfall for about half of the state.

Let's now take a look at rainfall month-to-date:

Although Denver did have rainfall the past week (as shown on the top image) we are still more than an inch drier than average (officially) this month despite all the 'hot' colors you see over the metro area in that month-to-date image. Denver International Airport has recorded 0.43" of rain this month, which is 1.19" below average. Meanwhile, our station has recorded 1.20" of rain month-to-date, which is more representative of where people actually live in Denver, but below average nonetheless.

With the heat building in with much drier air, this June will very likely end drier than average for the city and for much of the state.

Speaking of which, let's go through the rest of June.

Denver will be in the 90s Tuesday and Wednesday then the first 100° day of the year is possible for Thursday. The latest NAM MOS guidance has Denver topping out at 101°F Thursday, which would top the old record of 99°F set back in 1986 if it comes to fruition.

Hot weather returns and it will be the hottest of the season so far. The last 100° day was almost a full year ago - July 19th. pic.twitter.com/xJ6CEGQXpC

— Matt Makens (@MattMakens) June 25, 2018

Friday may cool a bit, but the bigger cool down will move in this weekend with 80s and a couple of storms. The storm chance Saturday, however, remains low with that cooler air. That means the last day of June will need to bring storms with close to 1.5" of rainfall which at the moment doesn't look likely. Here's the projected rainfall through the end of June, with chance of storms on Saturday:

It is safe to say that Denver and much of the state will be drier than average to close the month.

Stay cool this week!