textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- A few flurries possible across the Nebraska panhandle this afternoon as an Arctic front surges south crashing temps into the teens and 20s tonight.

- Warming trend expected Sunday through early next week with strong winds returning to southeast Wyoming Tuesday through Thursday

SHORT TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 111 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

While the core the arctic airmass remains well to the northeast over the Great Lakes the 700mb temperature gradient along with the slowly moving tail end of the arctic surface front is sliding south across the front range today. This will lead to highly variable temps across the region today. With the front not deep enough to push over the Laramie range this should remain a front range event with temps north of pine ridge not climbing back above 15 today. in the meantime Cheyenne has likely already reach their daily high of 52 as of 11am and will slowly fall through the remainder of the afternoon to freezing shortly after sunset. Aside from todays cold front there remains breezy conditions along I80 from Laramie to Elk Mountain where gusts continue to top 50mph (mainly around Arlington) but as high pressure settles in behind the front the low level pressure tendencies reverse just east of the mountains bringing an end to the high winds for at least the next few days. Some scattered snow showers remain across the northern Nebraska Panhandle via some weak saturation within the DGZ that looks to washout by 00z. Wither way no accumulations expected. As temps continue to drop through today expect a chilly night with lows widely in the teens and single digits across the high plains and 20s within the mountains.

For Sunday and Monday low-level thermal ridging builds in with the western ridge axis moving overhead and 30 kt westerly flow with the main jet in Montana and the Dakotas keeping a downslope regime in place for the high plains as daily highs through Tuesday climb into the 50s and 60s. Winds will occasionally gust over 40-50mph in the wind prone areas through the next few days but widespread gusts over 60mph are not expected to the point that a high wind warning would be justified.

LONG TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 111 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

For the longer term things may not be as zonal aloft as once thought with multiple shortwaves likely to traverse the crest of the flattened ridge. The first wave being Sunday across the Canadian prairies will be a non factor in our weather and then a second wave diving further south across the northern plains on Tuesday. While this system is not expected to bring much in terms of moisture it may pass just close enough to the north to bring increasing winds to the wind prones. In house guidance is not currently favoring this to be a particularly impressive or widespread event but likely to require headlines for a few areas. Thursday then looks to bring a much more amplified and impressive wave to the northern rockies with a 700mb jet crossing right through the southeast Wyoming plateau and mountain gap areas. Guidance much more heavily favors this system to bring high winds to the region with greater than a 70% confidence from the random forest model that this will meet high wind warning criteria which is an impressive signal for something 5-6 days out. Along with the very likely high winds, this system should also bring moisture to the west with some high elevation snow. However with it falling over a multi day period it would be unlikely to meet advisory criteria.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1037 AM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

An arctic cold front draped across far eastern Wyo and the Neb panhandle is causing some hazardous aviation weather today. A low stratus deck with embedded fog and light snow showers will continue to result in IFR for the panhandle terminals, along with breezy north winds this afternoon. Ceilings gradually lift and winds taper early evening with a return to VFR expected by 14/00z. Over Wyo, breezy west winds will continue through about sunset with primarily VFR expected over the course of the forecast period.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...None. NE...None.