446 FXUS65 KCYS 151146 AFDCYSArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cheyenne WY 545 AM MDT Mon Sep 15 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Warmer temperatures are expected Monday with a few isolated PM showers and thunderstorms capable of producing gusty winds.
- Another cold front and potent Pacific system will push across Wyoming Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in cooler temperatures, thunderstorms, and more widespread rainfall through the end of the week.
- Slight warming trend possible for next weekend.
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.SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 250 AM MDT Mon Sep 15 2025
Relatively quiet weather this morning. IR Satellite loop shows yesterday`s upper level trough, which brought locally heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to much of the area, lifting north across North Dakota and weakening early this morning. All models show a shortwave ridge axis moving into the forecast area for your Monday, resulting in temperatures returning back to near normal for this time of the year. Expect drier conditions today as winds shift into the west or southwest for the day with wind gusts up to 40 mph possible west of Interstate 25...mainly in the wind prone areas. Model guidance shows surface winds backing into the south or southeast mid to late afternoon, allowing some moisture advection into the region, but this weak moisture surge is trending later in the day with little in the way of forcing. Lowered POP and Prob Thunder across the area, but kept isolated to widely scattered coverage at best over the high plains. In fact, the most favorable timing for thunderstorms appears to be around or just after sunset as surface winds eventually shift into the southeast...allowing some low level convergence along and east of the I-25 corridor. Gusty winds look like the main concern with this activity due to a pretty dry mid to upper boundary layer. Today still appears like our warmest day of the week with high temperatures returning to the mid 70s to mid 80s under a shortwave ridge axis. The next upper level Pacific trough will be moving east across Idaho and western Wyoming, setting the stage for unsettled weather and much cooler temperatures for midweek.
For Tuesday and Wednesday, models are coming into much better agreement with the next weather event. Models show the upper level Pacific system slowing down on Tuesday and digging southeast along the Wyoming/Colorado border. The trough axis takes its time drifting east...and is showing signs of closing off across far southern Wyoming or northern Colorado by Wednesday. This makes sense, since the middle to eastern part of the country with be under the influence of an Omega Block which will eventually transition to a Rex Block through the week. Deterministic model guidance and ensembles have trended wetter and cooler Tuesday through Thursday of this week with a good chance of some widespread decent rainfall amounts (0.50 to 1.00) through late Wednesday night. Continued to POP for all forecast periods after AM Tuesday. The ECMWF is the most aggressive, showing a 575 closed low forming across far northeast Colorado on Wednesday with lots of wrap-around moisture backing into most of southeast Wyoming. Good forcing with this system due to a combination of low to midlevel instability (surface based and conditional), active upper level jet with several disturbance lifting north and east across the region, and low level moisture advection out ahead of the trough axis. Wednesday looks like the coolest day with highs possibly not reaching the low 60s for portions of southeast Wyoming. Kept highs closer to the NBM 50th percentile for now. Another round of snow is likely above 9000 feet as 700mb temperatures lower to 1c to 3c late Tuesday and through Wednesday. Snowlevels may be a little lower than the previous system, with snow accumulations up to 5 inches down to around 9500 feet. Can`t rule out the I-80 Summit seeing their first snow flakes of the season, but no accumulation is expected at this time. High temperatures on Wednesday are forecast to be in the upper 50s to upper 60s...with mid 30s to mid 40s in the mountains.
As for thunderstorms, will need to monitor Tuesday for strong thunderstorms with model soundings showing SBCAPE of 800 j/kg to 1400 j/kg...highest across western Nebraska ahead of the main system. Pretty good shear up to 35 knots expected across portions of the area with some risk for hail and strong winds. Although some thunder is expected on Wednesday, it will be far more stable and much cooler with more of a steady rainfall expected.
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.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 315 AM MDT Mon Sep 15 2025
Changes to the long range forecast mainly revolve around the differences in the midweek system which is forecast to slow down as it moves across the area. Although Wednesday will be our coolest day, Thursday will not be much better with all models and most ensemble runs showing northerly flow on the backside of the upper level low across western/central Nebraska and South Dakota. Models continue to show the secondary upper level disturbance digging south out of Canada late on Thursday, bringing an additional shot of cooler air. Therefore, kept the temperature forecast on the cooler-than-average side into Friday under north to northeast winds. Ensemble spreads are still relatively high, but a little better than the previous few runs. Low temperatures are going to be tricky each morning since any additional radiational cooling this time of the year will bring lows close to freezing with Frost and Freeze concerns. However, most models show mostly cloudy skies until early Friday morning.
Further out, models show the upper level ridge axis across the four corners region takes its time translating northeast into the forecast area next week. Decided to keep high and low temperatures closer to climo next week and into early next week. The GFS is warmest by a mile compared to the other models...showing highs in the 80s. The ECMWF, Canadian, and most of the ensemble spread show temperatures a little above average with highs in the 70s to low 80s, and lows in the mid to upper 40s to near 50. There remains low confidence in precipitation chances since models disagree with the positioning of the upper level jet.
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.AVIATION 12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z TUESDAY/... Issued at 545 AM MDT Mon Sep 15 2025
Drier westerly flow aloft expected today over southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska with a lower chance for showers and thunderstorms Monday afternoon.
HAZARDS/WEATHER TRENDS: VFR conditions expected over the next 24 hours. There is a small chance for a few thunderstorms after 20z Monday, but coverage is expected to be limited (~10% to 20%)...so will leave out any mention in the TAFs for now. Brief gusty winds will be the main concern.
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.CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WY...None. NE...None.
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SHORT TERM...TJT LONG TERM...TJT/RUBIN AVIATION...TJT
NWS CYS Office Area Forecast Discussion