The month of September in Colorado is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.

After a record high Thursday, it will feel like summer for the next several days.

A pattern of hotter, drier Septembers in Colorado continues as Denver’s official temperature, logged at Denver International Airport, hit 93 degrees at 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

The measure smashed Denver’s previous record high for the day, in 2010, when the thermometer hit 90 degrees.

Thursday was the 63rd day of 90 degree temperatures so far in 2024. Thursday was the eighth 90 degree day this month. In 2022, there were 10.

NWS Denver/Boulder meteorologist Bernie Meyer said that this Sunday is also expected to hit at least 90 degrees.

Meyer said that Colorado often experiences warm and dry stretches in the month of September.

“It has been warmer than normal, but we usually have two-four episodes of storm systems like we had last weekend,” he said.

Chris Bianchi, 9NEWS weekday morning meteorologist, correctly predicted the record being broken. With the temperature hitting 88 at the airport at noon, the old record was going down.

“This is fairly unusual for the end of the month,” said Bianchi, who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt Thursday afternoon. “I call September ‘August 2.0’.”

93 degrees is also the latest in the year metro Denver has been that hot, he said.

It was hot throughout the Front Range and in the southern region of the state.

The National Weather Service in Pueblo reported that the city had tied its 96 degree record for the date at 2:21 p.m.  Colorado Springs tied its heat record for the date when it hit 89 degrees. It was 81 degrees in Alamosa Thursday.

To the north, Fort Collins hit 91 degrees Thursday, breaking its old record of 90 degrees for Sept. 26.

“We used to have fairly impactful snowstorms in September,” Bianchi said.

Temperatures in September have increased by a degree-and-a-half over the last 20 years.

The latest day for a 90-degree temperature happened Oct. 1, 1892, when Benjamin Harrison was the U.S. president and Thomas Edison received a patent for the telegraph.

Coolest place in Colorado

For relief, Leadville offers temperatures that are 30 degrees cooler than the Denver metro area.

“It’s definitely comfortable,” said Adam DuCharme, tourism director for Visit Leadville/Twin Lakes. “The locals will be in shorts but most of the visitors will be in a light jacket and pants.”

Last weekend, Leadville got several inches of snow. DuCharme said the coming week also brings Leadville’s peak leaf-peeping opportunity.