Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Pueblo, CO
Issued by NWS Pueblo, CO
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982 FXUS65 KPUB 121034 CCA AFDPUB Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service Pueblo CO 334 AM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Above normal temperatures and dry conditions continue Wednesday through Saturday. - Next storm system moves in for late weekend into early next week bringing cooler temperatures and snow for the mountains. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... Issued at 233 AM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 Currently.. Ridging continues to move in from our west, bringing a few high- level clouds to portions of our area early this morning. Temperatures are quite a bit cooler than where we were last night, though still several degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. The Colorado Springs airport is reporting 45F as of 1 AM, and the Pueblo airport is sitting at 37F. We are cooler east and west of here, with Lamar at 27F and Alamosa at 19F. Dew points are in the teens and low 20s. Winds are mainly light and are mostly following normal drainage patterns near the mountains. Today and Tonight.. Models continue to bring the ridge axis towards us throughout the day, leaving us in the northern periphery under weaker westerly flow. Our temperatures will be a few degrees cooler given weaker downsloping winds, with highs topping out in the low to mid 70s for much of the plains, and 60s for our mountain valleys and the Pikes Peak region. Lee troughing develops later this afternoon, increasing southerly winds over our far eastern plains and southeast mountains to around 25 mph or so. Mountain wave clouds and high-clouds in general are likely to re-appear over much of the area today. Models bring the ridge axis overhead overnight tonight, transition us to southwest flow aloft by early tomorrow morning. This will keep our temperatures slightly warmer for overnight lows heading into Thursday morning, with temperatures cooling into the 20s for mountain valleys, 40s for much of our plains, and 30s for the Lower Arkansas River Valley, where winds will be weakest. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... Issued at 233 AM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 Long range models and ensembles have slowed down the eastward progression of the upper low which is now set to affect southern CO Sunday into Monday. Ahead of this, unseasonably warm and dry conditions will continue as upper ridging on Thursday transitions to southwesterly flow aloft by Saturday as the upper low now remains off the southern CA coast through Sat evening. High temperatures will climb into the 70s across the plains with 50s and 60s for the lower mountain and valley communities, and 30s and 40s across the high country. Bouts of mid/high cloudiness will help to temper low temperatures, keeping them on the warmer side of climo, especially where wave cloudiness and enhanced westerly drainage winds into the lee side surface low sets up. Snow spreads into the mountains a full 24 hours later than runs showed last night as the cut off low meanders off the coast before gradually filling and lifting to the northeast through the western U.S. The track of the upper low has also lifted considerably farther north with Canadian and its ensembles being the more southern and slower tracking members of the long range suite. Even the Canadian brings the closed low across CO by 12z Mon while its ensemble mean along with the operational and ensemble members of the EC and GFS are weaker, more open and farther north with the system. This spells a lower confidence in precipitation east of the mountains as the plains may be dominated by downslope flow on the southern periphery of the system. However, the eastern San Juans still have a shot and seeing some moderate to possibly heavy snowfall accumulations, with snow beginning Saturday night and continuing through Sunday night before the flow aloft becomes northwesterly, shifting the best orographic forcing into the central mountains for Monday. Probabilities of heavy snow have increased in the NBM across the southwest mountains with greater than 8 inch probabilities now around 60% across the higher terrain, and even some near 50% probabilities of seeing 12 inches or more. The remainder of the mountains have considerably lower probabilities of seeing even 4 to 6 inches of snow (20-40% range with highest probabilities over the central mountains). The plains stay largely dry now with a trend towards a more northern track. Some showers will be possible early Monday with the Palmer Divide and Pikes Peak Region most likely to be impacted. There could be a window for snow levels to drop across the Palmer Divide early Monday morning, but overall this should be brief as the system is relatively warm. Given the large run-to-run changes with the storm track, confidence is still low on these details, especially east of the mountains. Ensemble means still show a dampening system with a less amplified and farther north storm track, which is what it showed yesterday and leads one to maintain a healthy skepticism for some of the slower/stronger tracks in the deterministic runs. Temperatures will cool off for all areas, with highs in the 50s and 60s for the plains, with 40s for the valleys and mid 20s to 30s for the mountains. The system pulls away to the east, but the pattern remains active with more troughing developing across the west. Spread in the long range models and ensembles remains quite large so will stick with the NBM for now which suggests cooler temperatures with some showers increasing across the mountains again towards mid week. -KT && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 233 AM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 VFR conditions are expected at all three TAF sites, KCOS, KPUB, and KALS, for the next 24 hours. Winds will be light and diurnally driven. Scattered middle and upper-level cloud decks are likely through much of the forecast period. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...EHR LONG TERM...KT AVIATION...EHR