Higher Temperatures Bringing Higher Fire Danger

By Ed Greene

DENVER (CBS4) - Wednesday a large ridge of high pressure centered over Utah continues to deflect moisture to the north of Colorado and increases the flow of warm desert air into our state. That set-up continued to bring dry and warm weather to Denver with our high officially reaching 77 degrees - a whopping 23 degrees above normal for this time of year: mid March, our snowiest month of year! Look for more of the same for Thursday - mild, dry, a little breezy with highs right back in the mid 70s. As a result, a Fire Weather Watch (for high fire danger) is out for a great deal of the northeast, including greater metro Denver from 10am to 7pm Thursday.

Friday, St. Patrick's Day, will be slightly cooler - but still mild - in the upper 60s under partly sunny skies. The weekend then warms up even more: sunny to partly sunny skies with highs in the upper 70s to around 80 for both Saturday and Sunday.

Monday - Spring arrives at 4:29AM - we are partly cloudy with a spring-like high in the lower 70s. Then as we go through next week, a change in the weather pattern brings a chance for showers and highs back in the upper 50s and 60s.

Watch Ed Greene forecasting the weather on CBS4 newscasts at 5, 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @EdGreeneCBS4.