Rains cooled Colorado's wildfires Wednesday, but more than a dozen wildfires elsewhere in the West continued chewing through bone-dry pine and brush as firefighters working through the holiday kept a nervous eye for fireworks and other hazards.

Sunny and hot for the 4th of July... happy Independence Day! Highs will climb into the low and mid nineties on Wednesday... with an afternoon West wind 15 to 20 mph. Getting really hot by the weekend!

Utility crews struggled to catch up with a backlog of millions of people without electricity for a fourth hot day Tuesday as frustration grew and authorities feared the toll of 23 storm deaths could rise because of stifling conditions and generator fumes.

Another warm day with light breezes. As the weekend draws near, the heat gets turned up.

The death toll from weekend storms that left more than 3 million without power at its peak has risen to 22.

We go from warm from hot with at least some folks seeing a chance for thunderstorms today.

Getting Hotter.....Upper 90's by end of the week.

Under 90 Sunday but over by Monday.

First week of July will be hot. 95 on the 4th.

President Barack Obama says that when disasters such as the wildfires consuming parts of Colorado strike, "America comes together."

Warm and just a little breezy today, but we will see more wind as we head into the weekend.

Sunny skies and very warm on Thursday... with highs in the upper 80's.

The mayor of Colorado Springs says a raging wildfire has destroyed an estimated 346 homes, making the blaze the most destructive in state history.

The wind is picking up. As we head into the next holiday week, that's not the only thing that will be rising.

Sunny skies and very warm for Thursday afternoon, as highs climb into the upper eighties. Typical afternoon westerlies with blow 10-15 mph... with wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Temps are pretty stable in the upper eighties and low nineties across the region heading into the weekend.

Winds are pushing a raging Colorado Springs wildfire back toward where homes burned a night earlier, as crews fight to save the U.S. Air Force Academy and houses that had escaped damage.

Heat and flames from a destructive wildfire threatening Colorado's second-largest city were too intense Wednesday morning for authorities to fully assess the damage it caused overnight.

The wind picks up a bit today, but the temperature is going up to. Even more wind later in the forecast.

Sunny skies and warming temps... as highs climb into the upper eighties on Wednesday afternoon. A gradual warming trend takes us into the low nineties Thursday and Friday. We could once again be looking at windy conditions on Saturday... and slightly cooler by Sunday.

The wind is down today but so is the temperature. Both of those things change as we get latter in the week.

Sunny and below average temps ahead for Tuesday... with highs in the upper seventies. We'll undergo a gradual warming trend through the end of the week... with highs topping out in the low 90's by Friday.

Flames forced thousands of Colorado residents from their homes over the weekend and disrupted vacation plans for countless visitors as smoke shrouded some of the state's top tourist destinations, including majestic Pike's Peak and tranquil Estes Park.

Another Red Flag Warning for high fire danger today. Temperatures take a dip before we see more summer like highs later in the forecast.

Red flag warning and windy for Monday.

Still breezy Sunday but a little warmer.