Western Colorado Is About to Get Hot Enough to Make You Miss the Thunderstorms

The thunderstorms have mostly packed up and left town. Unfortunately, they took the moisture with them and left us with something arguably worse: a week of serious heat.

Triple-digit temperatures are on the menu for the lower valleys, and the fire danger is about to get downright cranky.

Monday Brings the Fire Weather

The biggest concern Monday isn't rain. It's what happens when you combine hot temperatures, bone-dry air and a healthy dose of wind.

A Red Flag Warning is in effect from noon to 8 p.m. for the valleys of southeast Utah and western Colorado, where wind gusts of 25 to 35 mph will combine with relative humidity in the single digits to low teens. Localized critical fire weather conditions are possible elsewhere, too.

In other words, this is not the day to decide that burning something outside sounds like a terrific idea.

Triple Digits Aren't Going Anywhere

High pressure is parked over the Desert Southwest, and it's showing no interest in leaving.

That means hot and dry conditions will continue through much of the week, with triple-digit heat common in the lower valleys of eastern Utah and west-central Colorado.

Heat Advisories and an Extreme Heat Warning are already in effect through Tuesday, and those could be extended if the pattern refuses to budge.

Spoiler alert: It probably will.

A Few Clouds, But Don't Expect Rain

There is a slim chance of isolated afternoon showers or thunderstorms around the southern mountains, particularly the eastern San Juans and the Divide.

But don't get too excited. Most of that activity should stay east, and the atmosphere is simply too hot and dry to produce much meaningful rainfall. Forecasters aren't expecting wetting rain.

We may see a storm. We just probably won't see the part where it actually helps.

Read More: Red Flag Warning in Colorado: What Locals Should Know

Maybe There's a Change Coming

There is at least a glimmer of hope toward the end of the week.

Forecast models are hinting at a trough moving into the West Coast that could eventually shove the high-pressure system east and allow moisture to return to the Four Corners. But the forecast has already pushed that possibility from late this week toward next weekend and beyond.

So, for now, don't make plans around it.

For the foreseeable future, we're looking at heat, dry air, wind and elevated fire danger. Basically, Western Colorado has entered its annual "everything is crispy" phase.