Friday might be the Rockies’ warmest home opener ever, surpassing the previous record set in 2017 by just two degrees.
When the first pitch is thrown at Coors Field for the 2024 season at 2:10 p.m. Friday, the Denver stadium will see sunny weather and a high of 76 degrees, according to National Weather Service forecasters.
The previous record for the warmest Rockies home opener was set in 2017 at 74 degrees.
While the warm and dry conditions may spell great weather for baseball fans Friday, the combination put most of Colorado under a red flag warning Friday morning, which is set to continue through 9 p.m., according to NWS.
A red flag warning indicates that critical fire weather conditions are either happening now or will happen soon, NWS meteorologists explained. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can lead to extreme fire behavior.
Winds gusts of up to 50 mph are expected across Colorado Friday and gusts of up to 100 mph will be possible in the foothills Saturday, NWS meteorologists said.
A high wind watch has been issued for Saturday through Sunday.
Across the front range, Interstate 25 corridor and eastern plains, Colorado can expect constant 40 to 55 mph winds, with gusts of up to 80 mph, according to the wind watch warning.
Damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines and create roof and fence damage, meteorologists stated in the wind watch warning. Scattered power outages are possible.
The weekend winds will worsen existing fire danger, but as snow starts in the mountains Friday, the gusts could also cause hazardous travel conditions with blowing snow and dust, NWS forecasters said.
The approaching storm over the weekend will bring snow showers to the mountains and potential rain to the metro area Friday night, especially after 1 a.m. Saturday, forecasters said.
Off-and-on rain is possible for the Denver area between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday before snow starts to mix in with the rain around 10 a.m., according to NWS meteorologists.
If any snow falls, little is expected to stick since temperatures won’t fall below 35 degrees, meteorologists said.
Snow in the metro area will wrap up around 7 p.m. Saturday and warm, sunny weather will return Sunday, bringing 50 mph winds along with it, according to NWS forecasters.
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