Wild weather is expected in the Colorado high country Wednesday because of an approaching cold front.
Low humidity, high wind and dry foliage has prompted a critical “red flag” fire danger warning for nearly all of Western Colorado from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction.
Forecasters expect wind gusts up to 25 mph and relative humidity as low as 10 percent.
The cold front also creates the possibility of a killing frost for the central and upper Yampa River basin, as well as the upper Gunnison River Valley, including the cities of Craig, Hayden, Meeker, Steambost Springs, Gunnison and Cimarron.
The freeze watch is in effect from late Wednesday night through Thursday morning, with temperatures as low as 25 degrees overnight, according to the forecasters.
Denver also is in store for a cool down, with a possibility for rain or snow Saturday night, when the temperature could fall to 31 degrees, down 4 degrees from forecasters’ expectation on Monday.
Denver reached 82 degrees Tuesday and could be as warm as 83 Wednesday — more than 10 degrees warmer than average — before topping out at just 55 on Thursday and Friday. The city has a 40 percent chance of showers on Friday nigh t and a 20 percent chance of precipitation Saturday, when the high could reach only 46 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.