Denver Weather: The Break Is Almost Over, Big Summer Heat Returns Soon!

DENVER (CBS4) - The summer cold front responsible for Denver's coolest day in four weeks on Tuesday will linger near Colorado's Front Range for Wednesday as well. That means one more day with cooler-than-normal temperatures and another round of afternoon thunderstorms.

The Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins areas will reach the lower 80s on Wednesday or just a couple degrees warmer than it was on Tuesday. Then temperatures will soar back into the 90s on Thursday and should stay there for the foreseeable future including this upcoming weekend.

In terms of thunderstorm chances on Wednesday, the storms will initiate in the mountains around midday as they usually do this time of year. They will then march east toward the I-25 urban corridor. The most significant storm development in the mountains will along and south of I-70 and along and north of Highway 50. Therefore the best chance for storms along the urban corridor will also be along and south of I-70 since most of the storms will move straight east.

By late evening most of the storm activity should be east of the I-25 corridor and some of the storms in southeast Colorado could be severe. The primary concern is large hail and damaging wind but an isolated weak tornado can not be ruled out (there was a weak tornado near Las Animas on Tuesday)

And while the highest risk for severe weather is south and southeast of Colorado Springs, a couple severe storms are also possible along the Palmer Divide in Douglas and Elbert Counties.

Looking ahead to Thursday, the large scale weather pattern over Colorado will shift to a southwest flow in the upper levels of the atmosphere. This will translate to a warming trend will temperatures back in the 90s and overall drier weather as well. That said, daily thunderstorm chances will continue. But the chance of a thunderstorm in any specific area will be lower compared to the last few days.