It’s going to be a hot one today

With recent rains and warmer temperatures, the Animas River rose to more than 2,400 cubic feet per second Tuesday morning. Fort Lewis College student Kyle Niemtschk took advantage of Tuesday morning’s warm weather and an old cottonwood tree for some chill time along the banks of the river.

SHAUN STANLEY/Durango Herald

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With recent rains and warmer temperatures, the Animas River rose to more than 2,400 cubic feet per second Tuesday morning. Fort Lewis College student Kyle Niemtschk took advantage of Tuesday morning’s warm weather and an old cottonwood tree for some chill time along the banks of the river.

SHAUN STANLEY/Durango Herald

Durango is expected to have its highest temperature of the year today. The National Weather Service forecasts a high of 87 degrees.

That would challenge the record for the day – 88, set in 2000. It would easily best the warmest day so far this year, May 17, when the high reached 80 degrees.

The summery weather is the result of airflow coming from the southwest, said Julie Malingowski, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction.

“We have high pressure over the area pumping southwesterly air into the area,” she said.

It comes too late for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, which truncated its route to end at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort instead of Silverton because of cold and wet weather.

Tuesday’s high was 85. That’s about 12 degrees above normal, Malingowski said.

A chance of thunderstorms arrives Thursday and is expected to persist through the weekend. The warm temperatures are expected to moderate, with highs in the upper 70s.

cslothower@durangoherald.com