One Of Colorado's Hottest September Weather Days On Record Expected Friday

DENVER (CBS4) - A smoky, red sunrise greeted most of Colorado early Friday morning, setting the tone for the hot day ahead. Many cities and towns will potentially see new record highs by Friday afternoon, and a few locations could even challenge their all-time September record high.

The hot weather is being caused by a strong area of high pressure that is sitting almost directly on top of Colorado. In addition to the heat it will be extremely dry around the state with relative humidity values expected to be in the single digits and teens. This will elevate the fire danger Friday afternoon and into the evening. Thankfully the wind speeds will be light around the state so if any fires start they shouldn't travel too fast.

Denver's record high for Sept. 10 is 93 degrees set in 2018 and it looks like we could break that by 1 p.m. or so today. We should end up somewhere around 99 degrees for a high. In the event the temperature at DIA hits 100 degrees it will be the third year in a row that we set a record for the latest 100 degree temperature of the year.

The all-time record for Denver in the month of September is 101 degrees and we will certainly be close to that. Many other cities and towns will be in all-time record territory too, including places on the list below.

We will see a pattern change begin to take shape on Saturday with some slightly cooler temperatures and a chance for scattered showers or storms in the mountains. It'll be the first chance for rain in roughly a week!

By the middle of next week an even stronger cold front will cool us down to where we should be for this time of year. In fact, it could even be a few degrees below normal in places like Denver by Tuesday.