Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Issued by NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
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612 FXUS65 KBOU 241014 AFDBOU Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 314 AM MST Mon Nov 24 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Light rain ending over the far eastern and northeastern plains by 15Z this morning. - Becoming windy late this afternoon into Tuesday, and turning colder. - Some moderation with diminishing chances of mountain snow through Thanksgiving. - First taste of winter weather next weekend, with a chance of snow for the mountains and plains. && .UPDATE... Issued at 311 AM MST Mon Nov 24 2025 Current satellite pictures are showing the center of upper low just getting into southwestern Kansas at this time. The area of rainfall over the cwa`s eastern and northeast plains will continue to decrease and should be ended over the far northeast corner by 15Z this morning. Will update pop grids accordingly. Cross sections continue to show a bit of a downsloping wind set-up by late afternoon and tonight. Grids have increasing winds over the foothills as a result. Models also continue to show a cold front and some weak low level upslope flow behind it, to move across the plains late tonight into early Tuesday morning. There is no low level moisture however. Models continue to show mean upper troughing over the western Unites States by later in the upcoming weekend on into early next week. Some cold air looks to get into the CWA as well. && .DISCUSSION /Through Sunday/... Issued at 120 PM MST Sun Nov 23 2025 Current satellite imagery shows the upper level low over northern New Mexico/southwestern Colorado, with light showers ongoing in Park county and southern plains. Expect light snow for elevations above 7000 feet (with rain/snow mix between 6500 and 7000 feet) through late tonight. Snowfall amounts will range from T-3" for areas along and south of I-70. Highest amounts will be confined to ridgetops and high passes, with slick roads expected this evening and Monday morning. Due to diabatic cooling, some of the higher elevations along the Palmer Divide could see snow accumulating on grass tonight, but generally expect less than an inch accumulation if that pans out. For the plains, rain showers will persist in the southern and eastern plains through Monday morning. Short range guidance still favors the bulk of precipitation for the eastern plains. Ensemble`s 25th-75th QPF percentiles range between 0.1"-0.5", but still can`t rule out a narrow band of 0.75" or slightly higher due to frontogenetical forcing under the deformation zone. Due to the track of this system, there will be a distinct cut off in precipitation amounts towards Denver metro/I-25 corridor and northern plains, with about half of the GEFS and ECMWF ensemble solutions now showing no precipitation west of DIA. Best case scenario would be a few light rain showers that wet the ground. Flow aloft will turn northwesterly Monday afternoon as a fast- moving shortwave travels just north of the forecast area. Light orographic snow showers are possible in the northern mountains Monday night into Tuesday morning. However, with the lack of moisture availability and better forcing north of us, minimal snow accumulations are expected, with minor travel impacts. The concern for the strong winds (>60 mph) has continued to diminish. Most likely, we will still be windy along ridge tops and the Cheyenne Ridge, with gusts up to 45 mph possible at times. The typical wind prone areas adjacent to the foothills will also be breezy Monday afternoon through early Tuesday morning. A cold front associated with the upper level shortwave will travel across the area overnight Monday and into Tuesday morning. This will bring morning lows to the 20s to low 30s over the plains and teens to low 20s in the mountains and valleys. Below normal temperatures are expected on Tuesday, with highs in the low to mid 40s (20s to 30s in the high country). Wednesday will be the coldest morning of the week, with most of forecast area waking up to temperatures below 20 degrees. However, we will begin warming up for the later half of the week as a ridge builds back over the southwest United States. Expect seasonal temperatures on Wednesday and about above normal temperatures (mid to upper 50s) for Thanksgiving and Friday. While most of the forecast area will remain dry, embedded shortwaves could produce light orographic snow showers in the northern mountains. Holiday travel could be impacted this weekend as we likely get our first true taste of winter. Ensemble guidance has continued to trend towards a system bringing colder temperatures and a chance of snow for the mountains and plains. However, there are still discrepancies between models and model runs on the track and evolution of the upper level low. Since yesterday, guidance has trended towards a faster track, so we could see precipitation by early this weekend, as well as an earlier arrival of cold air for Saturday. Forecast highs have trended down in this period, with potential for highs to only be in the 20s and 30s, with Sunday having the higher probabilities of the coldest temperatures. Stay tuned for updates. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS through 06Z Tuesday/... Issued at 1052 PM MST Sun Nov 23 2025 Models keep weak downsloping going all night at DIA with no drainage. With as weak as the west and northwesterly surface wind progs are for DIA, you wonder if drainage will win out towards dawn? Models show a normal diurnal wind pattern at DIA for Monday with weak northeasterlies by late morning. At this time, it looks doubtful that the downsloping will make it to DIA Monday afternoon. Will leave it out for now. There will be no ceiling && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ UPDATE.......66 DISCUSSION...MAI AVIATION.....66