008 FXUS65 KBOU 120026 AFDBOUArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 626 PM MDT Thu Sep 11 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms the next few days. Best chance of rain comes Saturday.
- Cooler temperatures expected tomorrow into the weekend.
- Unsettled, uncertain pattern for most of next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION /Through Thursday/... Issued at 204 PM MDT Thu Sep 11 2025
Early afternoon convection has been a bit more widespread than originally thought across the I-25 corridor. Initial convective cells that initiated near the base of the foothills in a shallow upslope flow regime have drifted east over the last couple of hours, though radar indications are that these have become less organized and outflow dominant. We`ll likely continue to see brief pulses up along the surface convergence between the outflow and continued east/northeast flow, but widespread rain chances are still fairly low for any given point across the rest of the urban corridor. Further northeast, better moisture prevails (sfc Tds in the 50s) and SPC Mesoanalysis suggests anywhere from 1000-2000 J/kg of MLCAPE along with 30-40kt effective bulk shear. However, it`s still fairly capped there and guidance generally keeps things quiet out there. We could also see a strong storm or two over the higher elevations, but modest instability will limit the severe potential.
South-southwesterly flow aloft should continue into tomorrow as a trough axis slowly advances east towards Colorado by Friday morning. Guidance develops a pretty good plume of showers and embedded thunderstorms by Friday morning from southwest Colorado into our I-70 mountain corridor, which slowly pushes north/northeastward through the day. The expansive cloud cover, along with cooler mid-level temperatures from the approaching trough, should keep temperatures several degrees cooler than today (upper 70s to low 80s). We`ll see how much of that moisture can make it into the lower elevations... but the better chances for precipitation will be across the southwestern/western portions of the CWA.
The trough axis is expected to sharpen and become negatively tilted by Saturday night or Sunday morning as the primary shortwave ejects into Colorado. The increasing QG ascent and moisture should lead to better coverage of showers and storms across the lower elevations. While there are still some timing differences to resolve, the majority of deterministic/ensemble guidance favors Saturday afternoon into Saturday night for the Denver area, with chances for rain lingering across the northeast corner Sunday.
As we get into next week, models have trended towards a cooler/more unsettled pattern as a closed 500mb low drops from the Pacific Northwest towards Wyoming, placing our region in a cooler, more zonal flow across the forecast area. While there may be a brief warmup Monday or Tuesday, temperatures should continue to be near normal. After a drying trend Sunday through Tuesday... a gradual increase in moisture is anticipated by mid-week next week.
&&
.AVIATION /00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday/... Issued at 622 PM MDT Thu Sep 11 2025
VFR through Friday. There is a chance of showers or an isolated thunderstorm in the Denver area through about 04z, but only a 20% chance of brief wind gusts to 30 knots. After that, there`s just a slight chance of showers through Friday morning. Scattered thunderstorms are expected again Friday afternoon, with the main threat wind shifts with gusts to 35 knots.
&&
.BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None.
&&
$$
DISCUSSION...Hiris AVIATION...Gimmestad
NWS BOU Office Area Forecast Discussion