DENVER — Denver is off to its hottest start to a month on record, based on preliminary data from the National Weather Service.
The city's average month-to-date temperature, through Tuesday, was 78.6 degrees. That makes it the hottest first 19 days of any month in Denver's climatological history, which spans back about 150 years to the early 1870s.
That's slightly warmer than July 1934 and a few other months, including July 2012.
Those figures are all based on official data at Denver International Airport, the city's official climate site. Downtown Denver's climate site is about a degree warmer (79.6 degrees) than the airport so far this month, meaning this isn't an airport-only statistical outlier.
The airport has recorded three separate days of 100-degree or hotter temperatures, along with three days of 70-degree or warmer overnight low temperatures. Both 100-degree highs and 70-degree lows are rare in Denver, taking place once or twice a year on average.
The forecast keeps temperatures on the hotter side of average through at least Saturday, making it likely that Denver's average month-to-date temperature will probably only increase over the next few days.
On the positive side, though, some slightly cooler temperatures (think upper 80s to low 90s, seasonal for late July) are likely next week, along with improved rain chances for the Denver area as well.
That may knock back Denver's month-to-date temperatures a tad, but it's unlikely to keep Denver from experiencing one of its hottest months on record.
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