


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
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565 FXUS65 KCYS 162337 AFDCYS Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cheyenne WY 537 PM MDT Mon Jun 16 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Coverage of showers and thunderstorms will increase for Monday and Tuesday with continued potential for scattered strong to severe thunderstorms and locally heavy rainfall. - Expect a cool down for Tuesday before a warming and drying trend takes over Wednesday through Saturday. Near record high temperatures are possible on Friday and Saturday. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 246 PM MDT Mon Jun 16 2025 Active and stormy weather continues today with yet another round of afternoon/evening showers and thunderstorms expected to begin in the next few hours. The axis of a strong upper level ridge remains over the area with southwest flow to our west continuing to advect a train of shortwave troughs inland from the Pacific. While deeper Pacific moisture is beginning to stream in aloft, dry air remains fairly entrenched as a deep mixed layer over Carbon and Albany counties, and an elevated dry layer over the High Plains. Inverted-v soundings west of the Laramie range will lead to another potential for gusty showers producing winds of 50 to 70 MPH with decent moisture mass moving in aloft. Cloud bases at above 500-mb are well- above the freezing level and suggest the continued potential for very strong winds through the early evening hours. Further east, the setup is very similar to the last several days with plentiful moisture in a shallow near surface layer, indicated by dewpoints in the upper 50s to low 60s for most of the Nebraska panhandle and parts of eastern Wyoming along and north of the North Platte River Valley. Still, RAP soundings indicate the dry air layer is still present aloft mainly between 500 and 700-mb. This is contributing strong CIN once again for most of the High Plains. The cap appears to be a little bit stronger than it was 24 hours ago with the strongest values generally in far eastern Wyoming. The cap is slightly weaker in the stretch from about Sidney to Alliance. While this suggests higher probabilities for a low-end scenario to play out today, we have the added player of more potent forcing compared to the last several days. A stronger shortwave trough approaching from the west will increase overrunning lift, which should help add lift and moisture to the dry layer and thus gradually erode the cap. Forecast models indicate the dry layer should be sufficiently weak by about 5 to 6PM to allow a few updrafts to break through. All together, there is a little higher uncertainty today regarding the severe weather potential, but storms that manage to get going will have access to a potent severe weather environment and thus be capable of producing large hail, damaging winds, and perhaps an isolated tornado. Lapse rates remain very steep along with plentiful (but capped) instability, and the strongest vertical wind shear we have seen over the last few days. After about 9PM, the mid-level dry layer will be gone, but a surface cool front will aggressively push westward as surface high pressure settles in to our north and northeast. This will probably close the window for surface based convection, but we may still see elevated convection continuing well into the evening thanks to the steady isentropic lift overtop areas of frontogenesis. This looks most favorable along and north of the US-20 corridor, but we could see scattered showers and/or isolated thunderstorms almost anywhere. Retained low end (20 to 30%) PoPs throughout the night and into Tuesday morning to account for this. Active and stormy weather will continue for Tuesday, but with a much different overall setup compared to the last few days. Capping will not be much of an issue tomorrow. Instead, we will have moist soundings across nearly the entire atmospheric profile, pushing precipitable water to near the climatological 90th percentile. With cooler temperatures in place, expect weaker instability and more modest lapse rates with marginal shear. However, decent forcing and plentiful moisture should still allow for scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms to develop in the late morning to early afternoon hours. Convective parameters are expected to be sufficient to support some strong to severe thunderstorms. A few hi-res models suggest the possibility for storms to linearize, which suggests a strong wind threat. Large hail is also possible, but the more modest lapse rates and saturated soundings point slightly more towards larger amounts of small hail and/or rainfall. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... Issued at 246 PM MDT Mon Jun 16 2025 Wednesday...Northwest flow aloft prevails, and with the low and mid levels drying out and warming temperatures aloft providing convective inhibition, no showers or thunderstorms are expected. Maximum temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s. Thursday...Zonal flow develops and with warm temperatures aloft and relatively dry low and mid levels, dry conditions will continue. 700 mb temperatures near 13 Celsius will yield high temperatures from the mid 80s to mid 90s. Friday-Sunday...The flow aloft backs to southwest. With dry low and mid levels and warm temperatures aloft, dry weather will continue. Highs from the upper 80s to near 100 degrees Friday and Saturday, with a bit cooler temperatures for Sunday as 700 mb temperatures lower to near 16 Celsius. Monday...After a cold frontal passage, and 700 mb temperatures near 12 Celsius, high temperatures will be cooler, in the mid 60s to mid 70s. Looks like enough low and mid level moisture to produce isolated late day showers and thunderstorms. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 527 PM MDT Mon Jun 16 2025 Zonal, or west to east, flow aloft will prevail, with several disturbances in the flow helping to produce scattered showers and thunderstorms tonight and Tuesday afternoon. Wyoming TAFS...Scattered to broken clouds from 5000 to 15000 feet will prevail, with areas of fog from 09Z to 15Z at Cheyenne, reducing visibilities to 5 miles and ceilings near 1500 feet. Thunderstorms will be in the vicinity of Cheyenne until 01Z, with a chance of showers from 09Z to 12Z. Winds will gust to 25 knots at Rawlins and Cheyenne until 02Z, and to 35 knots at Laramie until 14Z. Nebraska TAFS...Scattered clouds from 5000 to 10000 feet will occur until 09Z, then ceilings will lower to 1000 to 2500 feet from 09Z until 15Z, then ceilings will be near 5000 feet. Occasional thunderstorms will occur until 04Z, reducing visibilities to 3 miles, with areas of fog and drizzle from 06Z to 15Z, reducing visibilities to 3 to 5 miles. Winds will gust to 25 knots until 05Z. && .CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WY...High Wind Watch until 8 PM MDT this evening for WYZ109-110-115. NE...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...MN LONG TERM...RUBIN AVIATION...RUBIN