DENVER — Another round of strong, severe storms led to large hail, high winds and flash flooding in the Denver area Thursday.
Severe storms hit Thursday afternoon across the urban corridor, with strong storms south and east of Denver. There was a warning for large hail and flash flooding in the metro area.
The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for parts of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming through 9 p.m. In Colorado, the watch included all of the Front Range and the eastern plains.
Hail piled up like snow in the Littleton area as a storm cell moved through about 4 p.m. Thursday.
A mix of sun and clouds greeted eastern Colorado Thursday morning, along with tangibly humid air. Those conditions helped fuel storm development as early as 11 a.m. Thursday, with storms that pushed into the Interstate 25 corridor between noon and 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
A storm system that moved through the western U.S. pushed in added humidity and lift to Thursday's storms.
Dewpoints are a measure of the amount of moisture in the atmosphere that exceeded 60 degrees in Denver Thursday, an indication that there was a lot of moisture for storms to work with. On top of that, strong wind shear, the change in wind speed and direction with height, allowed storms to sustain themselves to contribute to stronger storms.
Eastern Colorado experienced cooler temperatures after a sizzling start to the week. Highs in the Denver area only top out in the low 80s, close to 10 degrees below seasonal averages.
That cooler air lingers for Friday, along with a chance for afternoon storms once again. There'll still be a severe weather risk on Friday, though the chances for larger hail and damaging wind look lower than on Thursday.
Drier and hotter weather moves back in for Saturday and Sunday, with highs rebounding back into the 90s by Sunday and lasting for most of next week, with only a limited chance for storms each day. The severe weather risk next week looks low.
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