textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- High Wind Warnings are in effect for the typical wind prone areas of southeast Wyoming starting this afternoon through Monday morning.

- Warming trend through Monday, cooler temperatures from Tuesday onward.

- The probability for a significant and widespread wind event on Thursday and/or Friday continues to increase.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 1234 PM MST Sat Mar 7 2026

Abundant clear skies are in place over southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska in a post-storm northwest-flow regime this Saturday afternoon. Despite the sunny skies, chilly conditions are present relative to recent temperatures, with highs only reaching around seasonal averages for most locations. Gusty northwest winds have added a crisp late-winter feel to the air, with some isolated areas of blowing snow in the higher and exposed terrain of the Laramie and Snowy ranges and across the I-80 corridor. A well-advertised high-wind event will continue to ramp up this afternoon and evening over the typical wind- prone corridors of southeast Wyoming including the Snowy Range foothills and Laramie Range foothills. This event, primarily driven by strengthening pressure and height gradients draped across the southeast WY mountains, will reach its peak intensity through the day on Sunday and Sunday night. In-house guidance supports a nearly 48-hour stretch of wind gusts over 60 mph for the Arlington and Bordeaux areas, and has indicated as such for the past several guidance cycles giving this event high- confidence through the short-term period.

Northwest flow will slowly back to westerly flow on Sunday, resulting in a more favorable downslope orientation over southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska on Sunday. This, combined with rising mid-level temperatures, will result in afternoon highs running nearly 15 degrees warmer on Sunday than on Saturday. Locations such as Scottsbluff, Alliance and Chadron will likely take a run at 70 degrees on Sunday afternoon. As mentioned before, high-confidence in a strong gradient-driven wind event will continue through Sunday afternoon and overnight in the Wyoming wind-prone corridors.

Expect one more day of warming temperatures on Monday as heights and mid-level temperatures reach their maximum on Monday evening. Fast-westerly downslope flow will aid in boosting afternoon temperatures and skies are expected to remain mostly sunny through the day. While gradient flow slackens slightly on Monday, a favorable albeit weaker downward momentum setup will result in more widespread gusty winds on Monday, but the strongest corridors of winds should generally drop below high wind criteria. The primary weather concern on Monday will be fire weather, with much of the Wyoming high plains and Nebraska Panhandle experiencing RH values below 20% with wind gusts over 25 mph. A fire weather watch will have to be considered for Monday if this forecast trend continues.

LONG TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 1234 PM MST Sat Mar 7 2026

Following the warm, dry, and breezy weather on Monday, attention will turn to an approaching cold front from the north on Tuesday. Recent ensemble guidance has trended a bit slower with the progression of this cold front, and it may end up remaining just off to the north in northeast Wyoming throughout most of the day on Tuesday. Still, increasing RH values above 500mb will result in a much cloudier day on Tuesday and mid-level temperatures will start to drop ahead of the approaching trough. These factors combined will result in lower afternoon highs on Tuesday by around 10 degrees.

The cold front will pass through southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska later on Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening bringing a sharp drop in surface temperatures as well as the chance for a few rain showers quickly turning to snow showers. Ensemble mean QPF values remain quite low with this system, likely remaining less than 0.1" or so for most locations. The northern Laramie Range may see around 1-3 inches of snow from this event given favorable northerly upslope, but no snow accumulations of note are expected outside of this area on Tuesday.

Following the departure of this frontal system, expect fast westerly flow to return to southeast Wyoming as another strong gradient-driven high wind event moves in. Even at the day 5-7 range, pattern recognition and local-in-house guidance is showing very high confidence in 60mph+ winds over both the I-80 and I-25 travel corridors in southeast Wyoming from Wednesday evening through Friday of next week. High-confidence also exists in above-normal temperatures given a developing ridge over the southwestern CONUS. By the end of the week, forecast confidence decreases somewhat as some ensemble groups favor a southward trend in the jet bringing clouds and precipitation back to the mountains, and other ensemble groups keep the storm track farther north.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/

Issued at 438 PM MST Sat Mar 7 2026

High winds are going to prevalent in the wind prone areas of Southeast WY. This means wind shear likely overnight as the 700mb jet is expected to maintain these conditions. KLAR may lose their gusts around 06z due to the Bowl/valley they are in and have no windshear in response. The Nebraska terminals are expected to lose their gusts overnight but have it come back shortly after sunrise. Tomorrow evening the wind shear looks to come back around 45-50 kts over the Panhandle. There are midlevel clouds between 7,000ft to 11,000ft transiting through overnight from Northwest WY and Southern SD. Otherwise some high based cirrus should be over us during the morning and clearing out by the afternoon tomorrow.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...High Wind Warning until 6 PM MST Monday for WYZ106-110. High Wind Warning until 6 PM MST Monday for WYZ116-117. NE...None.