Denver Weather: Back to toasty temperatures and unhealthy air after days of rain
After more than three inches of rain in some metro area neighborhoods in as many days, much drier and warmer weather returns Wednesday along with higher a concentration of ozone.
The Aurora and Broomfield areas easily measured the highest rain totals thanks to thunderstorms causing extremely heavy rain in Aurora on Monday and in Broomfield on Tuesday.
Most of the rain missed the northeast side of the metro area and therefore the rain total since Sunday at the airport is only a scant 0.22 inches.
That means Denver is officially far below normal for precipitation in August even with all the recent rain. The city is also officially about 3 inches below normal with precipitation for the year including melted snow earlier this year.
If the official weather station for Denver was still at the former Stapleton Airport site in the Central Park neighborhood, Denver would be above normal for August and much closer to normal for the year.
Regardless, the return of mostly sunny, completely dry, and noticeably warmer weather on Wednesday means air quality issues have also returned. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has declared the 35th Ozone Action Day of the summer for Wednesday. That tally exceeds the total number of days in 2019 but is below the record breaking total of 65 days last summer.
An Ozone Action Day means pollution from several sources like vehicles and industry is expected to be trapped near the gourd causing unhealthy air for anyone with asthma or other respiratory problem.
The next good chance for rain on Colorado's Front Range will wait until the weekend. At this time, the most likely timeframe for showers and thunderstorms will be in the afternoon and evening on on Sunday.
