Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Issued by NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
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587 FXUS65 KBOU 252145 AFDBOU Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 245 PM MST Tue Nov 25 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Very light snow possible in the mountains on Wednesday with minimal impacts. - Mild and dry for Thanksgiving and Friday. - First taste of winter weather this weekend, with snow likely Friday night and into Saturday morning. - Second round of snow is possible Sunday. && .SHORT TERM /Through Wednesday/... Issued at 243 PM MST Tue Nov 25 2025 Strong northwesterly flow aloft will continue through Wednesday. This flow is currently helping to produce gusty winds across the northeast plains with plenty of reports of gusts in the 45-50 mph range near the Nebraska border. Winds will relax tonight across the plains. During the day on Wednesday, a very subtle shortwave trough will move across far northern Colorado. Some Pacific moisture associated with this trough will bring clouds and some light snow showers to the mountains. The Park Range and Medicine Bow Range will see snow amounts in the 1-3" range along the peaks. Some light rain or snow showers could make their way onto the far northeast plains. PoPs were increased to add a mention of precipitation in the forecast mainly north and east of Fort Morgan. Otherwise, Wednesday will be a cool day with mostly cloudy skies and temperatures near or slightly below normal. && .LONG TERM /Wednesday night through Tuesday/... Issued at 143 PM MST Tue Nov 25 2025 Upper level ridging moves across the region Thursday and early Friday. This will bring dry conditions throughout the area. Temperatures for Thanksgiving climb above normal with highs in the lower to mid 50s across northeast Colorado. Ridging aloft moves off to the east and westerly flow aloft increases ahead of an upper level trough dropping southward from the Northern Rockies. We will see one more warm day Friday with high temperatures around 60 degrees over northeast Colorado. Surface low pressure deepens over eastern Colorado Friday afternoon. This should cause westerly winds to increase during the day in the mountains, foothills, and possibly the plains. The upper level trough and a surface cold front drops southward across the area Friday night. Snow is expected to spread southward out of Wyoming Friday night and linger into Saturday morning across north central and northeast Colorado. Snowfall amounts are expected to be on the light side with this being a quick moving system. Operational model runs are in generally good agreement with the timing and placement of this system. However, the ensemble members paint a fuzzier picture with many of them not showing snowfall for this time period, thus will keep PoPs mainly in the 40-60 percent range until the ensemble members come into better agreement. What is in good agreement is we will see the coldest air of the season move into the area for the weekend. A second system will be possible for Sunday with another round of light possible for the entire area. Again, operational model runs are in fairly good agreement with this system as well, but the ensemble members show a much wider range of solutions. Therefore will keep PoPs in the chance range (30-50%) for Sunday. If traveling for Thanksgiving expect mild and dry conditions through Friday. However, the return trip home may not be as nice with two chances for light snow, Friday night/early Saturday, and then Sunday. Snowfall amounts look to be on the lighter side, but with cold temperatures in place, it is expected to be cold enough for roads to become slippery at times. For next week, another trough dives south over British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest setting up a reinforcing shot of colder air and possibly snow for the middle part of next week. Ahead of it, we will see westerly flow aloft and slight ridging. Temperatures slow warm Monday and Tuesday ahead of the approaching upper level trough. However, temperatures are still expected to be below normal. If we see enough moisture embedded in the westerly flow aloft, some light mountain snow will be possible Monday and Tuesday. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS through 18Z Wednesday/... Issued at 1135 AM MST Tue Nov 25 2025 VFR conditions expected through the TAF period. Northeast winds have been persist at DEN and APA. Gusts could reach 20 knots at DEN throughout the afternoon with no gusts expected at APA. A Longmont anticyclone has developed that is keeping the winds easterly at BJC which should continue through the afternoon. Winds will turn quickly to the southeast around sunset. There is an area of higher humidity in the low levels that will come in this evening. A small chance (20%) exists that clouds with ceilings around 2-3 kft would occur between 02-08Z. There are not much concerns for tomorrow. Light winds are expected with high level clouds. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...Danielson LONG TERM...12 AVIATION...Danielson