These posts take a look back at recent weather events, like snow storms or severe weather outbreaks, and evaluate how the forecast played out. We evaluate how well the models predicted what actually occurred, and offer insight into what can be learned and applied moving forward.
Thursday marks the final chapter of our late-summer heatwave, with record-challenging highs expected across the Front Range — but big changes are on the horizon. A cold front arrives tonight, ushering in cooler temps, a return of thunderstorms, and a wetter, more active pattern that could stick around well into next week. From sizzling heat to damaging hail, monsoonal moisture, and a long stretch of below-normal highs, today’s forecast update has a little bit of everything.
Wednesday may have felt underwhelming across the lower elevations of the Front Range, where lingering low clouds kept things calm and cool for much of the day — but just west of Boulder, up in the sunshine-soaked Foothills, something rare and striking took shape Wednesday afternoon. A graceful funnel cloud twisted above the mountain peaks in a spot where such phenomena almost never occur. We explore why tornadoes (and their funnel-shaped precursors) are so uncommon in Colorado’s higher terrain, and take a closer look at what makes broader Boulder County particularly adverse to tornado development.
Monsoon season may have officially started earlier this month, but it’s off to a sluggish and lack-luster beginning across Colorado. Boulder has seen frequent storms—yet little meaningful rain—and wildfire smoke from the Western Slope and neighboring states is starting to pool to our west. A cold front arriving Tuesday night will bring cooler temps and a bump in thunderstorm chances for Wednesday, followed by a promising shift toward a more classic monsoonal setup Thursday through the weekend ahead with continued daily storms. This week, we’re tracking some heat, smoky haze, and hopefully, a few solid soakings of rain.
Wednesday brought historic heat across the Front Range, with Boulder hitting a record high of 101°F—the city’s hottest day in over a decade. A weak cold front has since cooled things off slightly, ushering in a good chance of storms the next few days as well. Sunday into Monday turn drier and hotter again as reverse monsoonal flow sets up, potentially stifling our typical summer storm pattern for a bit.
June 2025 started out cool and rainy in the Front Range, but precipitation became much more scarce as the month wore on, with our landscape drying out and fire danger creeping up over time. The month also featured several rounds of damaging severe weather and multiple sizzling heat waves. Here’s a quick and colorful graphical recap of our weather during June and how it relates to climatology.
While fireworks once lit up Boulder’s Fourth of July, the city has moved on from the tradition due to rising fire risks, noise concerns, crowd issues, and high costs. But there’s another reason to consider: air quality. This year’s air quality data from across the Denver Metro area revealed that Boulder’s lack of a city-run fireworks show resulted in noticeably lower pollution levels compared to neighboring cities.
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