The temperature in Durango reached a record 78 degrees on Thursday, breaking the previous high for April 10, according to the National Weather Service.
It surpassed the previous record of 77 degrees set in 1960, said Lucas Boyer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction. The new record is 18 degrees above the average high of 60 degrees for April 10.
The record for April 11 is 77 degrees, set in 2023. As of 4:35 p.m. Friday, the temperature had reached 76 degrees, and Boyer said there was a reasonable chance the record could be tied or broken.
Boyer said he does not expect anymore record-breaking temperatures next week, with slightly cooler weather expected to arrive Sunday following a projected high of 78 degrees Saturday. Wind gusts of 25 mph to 35 mph are forecast for Saturday afternoon across Southwest Colorado.
Highs for Monday and Tuesday are forecast to be 72 degrees and 70 degrees, respectively.
“I don’t want to call it a cold front, but it is a cool front,” he said. “It’s going to allow some cooler air to come in behind this high that’s been cooking us for the past couple of days.”
Partly cloudy skies could contributed to the cooldown next week, Boyer said.
He said the seasonal outlook for April places temperatures slightly above normal. To see more records fall, highs would need to push about 20 degrees above average.
The Four Corners is being outcompeted by warmer-than-average temperatures over the Great Plains, he said.
He said projections into early May hint that above-normal temperatures are possible.
“That’s going to be predicated on getting another one of these big ridges of high pressure in over the Four Corners,” Boyer said. “The long-term climate folks are a little bullish on that actually happening, so we’ll see, but April looks like we stay a little bit above normal, then maybe surging upward from there.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
