Smoky with good thunderstorm chances for Thu, more storms over southern CO on Fri

07/31/25 8:45am: Forecast for today: rinse, wash, repeat lol: smoky with a better chance for strong storms over parts of the northern front-range. Its hazy out there this morning with more near-surface smoke in areas as expected, but its also sunny and warming up.

Given it will be much warmer today (80s for Den/Bou) that should provide fuel for better thunderstorm chances, but the Denver donut hole could still wreak some havoc this afternoon, so not everyone will see rain. The models struggle with forecasting the cap (CIN).

Best chances will be in the mountains and foothills and also across the northern front-range from Boulder north to Cheyenne.

For Den/Bou and the front-range a chance for scattered, strong storms from 3pm-9pm. Best coverage from Boulder north and strongest storms along/east of I-25 after 4pm. Some severe storms expected in spots with small hail, heavy rain and wind. Strongest storms will likely form east of Denver today after 4/5pm.

For the north-central mountains: scattered storms from 1pm-8pm, best coverage likely right over the Central mountains, mostly east of Glenwood Springs to Aspen to Salida (including Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek counties). Also good chances over the front-range mountains (RMNP, IPW, etc). Heavy rain and some hail in spots especially further east.

For tomorrow for both the front-range and mountains best chances will generally be from south of I-70, across south-central CO from 1pm-8pm again, more on that later.

First image loop shows forecast radar over the next 48hrs (6am this morning through 6am Sat). Second image shows forecast radar at 5pm from NAM-3km (take with grain of salt). Images 3 and 4 show the severe weather threat for today (and where the greatest hail threat is).