Severe storms on Wednesday evening activate Weather Impact Alert

FORECAST BY: 9NEWS Weather Impact Team Meteorologist Keely Chalmers

An overnight cool front brought cloud cover and cooler air today which limited thunderstorm development until early afternoon. This evening we are tracking severe storms moving east off the mountains and foothills onto the plains.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for the I-25 corridor and eastern plains through 10pm. A level two risk for severe weather is in place as conditions are favorable for large hail, damaging winds, and the potential for a brief tornado as well as areas of heavy rain.

Thunderstorms started developing over the mountains around 1pm. These storms have been drifting east off onto the plains. As those storms move east across the plains, some are strengthening and becoming severe. The only saving grace will be the lower afternoon high temperatures. Those lower temps will somewhat limit energy. Although as the temperatures warm through the afternoon, we could see some storms intensify.

The threat for severe storms in the Denver metro area ends around 7pm. But we could get a secondary wave around that time roll through Fort Collins, Greeley, and surrounding areas. Severe storms are expected across the plains through the 9pm hour. The strongest storms across the southwest corner of the state.

In addition to the storms, there are air quality alerts in western Colorado because of smoke from the wildfires on the Western Slope. The Front Range could get a smoke through tomorrow. Most of that smoke originating from fires in northern Arizona and southern Utah.

Highs push back into the low 90s for Friday and Saturday, with some afternoon storms likely both days, especially on Saturday.