The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Denver and Aurora on Monday afternoon, putting the alert in place until 1:45 p.m. for an area that includes roughly 930,000 residents, 209 schools and 16 hospitals. The warning came as forecasters said wind gusts up to 50 mph and hail the size of ping-pong balls were possible.
For people searching Denver weather, the warning was the clearest sign that the afternoon had turned active fast. Rain was possible in Denver between noon and 8 p.m., but thunderstorms were most likely between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., with scattered storms expected across the Interstate 25 corridor and Eastern Plains from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The broader setup stretched beyond the metro area. Afternoon thunderstorms were expected to bring chances for large hail and damaging winds to Denver, the Eastern Plains and southern Colorado on Monday, with the main threat described as large hail and damaging winds. A brief tornado or two was also possible, and storms were expected to form in the I-25 corridor before strengthening as they moved east.
That said, weather service officials described the threat of severe weather as low in the Denver area and higher on the plains, even as the warning was issued for Denver and Aurora. In southern Colorado, the greatest risk was centered in El Paso and Kiowa counties, where storms were forecast to bring hail up to ping-pong-ball size, or about 1.5 inches in diameter.
The immediate question for commuters, schools and hospitals in the warning area was not whether storms were coming, but how hard they would hit before the alert expired at 1:45 p.m. Strong to severe thunderstorms were expected across Colorado again on Tuesday, with Denver’s best chance coming between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and the potential for quarter-sized hail, winds up to 60 mph, heavy rain and flash flooding.
