Summer heat returns; storms that bring hail and wind

After two days of cooler-than-average weather, heat returns to Colorado on Thursday alongside a wave of afternoon thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.

Near-90-degree weather will return Thursday across the Front Range, metro area and Eastern Plains, NWS forecasters said. Temperatures will rise to 89 degrees in Denver, 86 degrees east in Limon and 90 degrees in northeastern Colorado’s Sterling.

A few severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and evening, mainly in the mountains, the Northeast Plains and the Denver area, forecasters said. The greatest severe weather threat is along the Colorado-Wyoming-Nebraska border in northeastern Colorado.

Hail up to an inch in diameter (about the size of a ping-pong ball) and damaging wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour will pose the greatest threat, NWS meteorologists said. Heavy rainfall can also lead to flooding.