SPC issued tornado threat SaturdaySPC issued hail threat SaturdayMany of the right ingredients are in place for supercell development later this afternoon across northeast Colorado. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a slight risk for severe weather across a good portion of eastern Colorado, including the greater Denver area.

Primary threat will be large hail and damaging wind, especially as you move east of the Denver area. A few isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out, be sure to have your safety plan in place should severe weather hit.

After a slightly drier day Sunday, it looks like Monday could once again be active for the eastern half of the state. Always good to see the moisture, let us hope the storms keep on coming!

Updated - Sat 06/15/13
Officials say the fire is now 30% contained, but the number of homes burned has grown from 379 to 473. Firefighters hope cooler weather today will help continue to gain an upper hand on the fire. All mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted.

Here is the updated fire perimeter map from GeoMac as of Friday night.

Full map on GeoCommons

What is now being called Colorado's most destructive wildfire, the Black Forest Fire has destroyed 379 homes north of Colorado Springs, and claimed the lives of two. As of Thursday night the fire was 5% contained, and had scorched 15,700 acres. Nearly 40,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since the fire began earlier this week.

A break from the weather? Forecast winds are expected to be calmer today than over the last few days, and temperatures will be cooler as well. By Saturday temperatures are expected to fall into the 70s, with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast for the area Saturday, with a better chance for rain by Monday. This would be great news for firefighters still trying to gain the upper hand in this fire.

For continuing coverage of all the Colorado wildfires, the Denver Post has a Live Blog on their site, with up to the moment reports from the Black Forest fire, Royal George fire, and Big Meadows fire.

GFS Tuesday projected highs - WeatherBellUnseasonably cool temperatures from earlier this week will be a distant memory in the coming days, as the warmest stretch of weather for the year looks to be heading our way. Today will still be very pleasant, with highs in the lower 80s for most of the metro area with about a 10 - 20% chance of an afternoon thunderstorm.

The heat begins working its way into the region Sunday. By Monday, highs will climb into the lower 90s for Denver. Tuesday could be the hottest day of the week, with some models suggesting middle to upper 90s for Denver, and approaching the century mark across southeast Colorado.

The heat sticks with us through Thursday before we can can hope for a shift in our pattern, and to knock a few degrees off daily highs.

We will remain mostly dry through the period as well. A slight chance of isolated storms today and again Monday, but no significant precipitation in the planning forecast at this time.

Spotter Network Tribute to Tim, Paul and CarlRelatively quiet weather will persist into the work week. Winds have increased a bit this afternoon in advance of an approaching trough, but temperatures have warmed considerably from where we were the last several days. Monday is expected to again be quite warm across the metro area, before we knock temperatures back a few degrees Tuesday.

June is severe weather month for northeast Colorado. No major severe weather events are in the forecast this week, but extreme northeast Colorado could see some isolated severe storms Monday afternoon and evening, with a better chance for storms closer to Denver Tuesday and Wednesday. I expect the highest potential for severe thunderstorms to stay out of the metro area, but something to keep an eye on midweek, and as we head deeper into the month of June.

Tragically, the weather family lost an incredible icon in severe weather research in Friday's F3 tornado in El Reno, OK outside of Oklahoma City. Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young all died while chasing the dangerous storm Friday.

Tim, a native of Colorado, chased severe storms for nearly 30 years, and has contributed extensive groundbreaking research focused on better understanding tornadoes and severe weather. He founded TWISTEX (Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in/near Tornadoes Experiment), and their mission is to to help understand why tornadoes form, and to increase warning times. Tim was also co-owner and organizer of ChaserCon, a conference held each year in Denver. Tim and his entire team have always been known for their great respect for the power of tornadoes, and were great educators in chase safety.

Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young will be greatly missed, my condolences go out to both families that have suffered such profound loss.

More on last week's tragic events, and some important resources for tornado safety and preparedness:
Brad Panovich: What we can learn from the tornado tragedy in Oklahoma

7News Denver: Reactions from friends and colleagues

Condolences from the National Weather Service in Boulder

Storm Prediction Center: Tornado safety

Ian Livingston and Mark Ellinwood from the CWG wrote this must read for storm chasers: The storm chaser dilemma and choice to sit out the May 31 Oklahoma City tornadoes

And this one from Wilder Weather: Storm Chasing: Faced with Tragedy, Will Chase On