textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- High Wind Warnings continue for the typical prone areas of southeast Wyoming. High Wind Watch issued for areas adjacent to the Northern Laramie Range.

- Near-record warmth possible for eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska on Monday with Red Flag Warnings in effect.

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

SHORT TERM /THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 1203 PM MDT Sun Mar 8 2026

The first afternoon of Daylight Savings Time will spring forward with additional warmth throughout southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska. Temperatures will run around 15 degrees warmer than yesterday, with most areas around 15-20 degrees above normal. Some high clouds continue to drift from northwest to southeast today as the southern fringes of a strong jet aloft remain overhead. Strong gradient-driven high winds will continue over the northern slopes of the Snowy Range as well as the Laramie Range and adjacent eastern foothills today. Short-term forecast guidance is in excellent agreement showing high confidence in this high wind event lasting through this afternoon, tonight, and throughout the day on Monday as well in the typical wind- prone travel corridors of southeast Wyoming. After an unseasonably mild overnight, attention will turn to fire weather concerns on Monday. Warming mid-level temperatures and enhanced westerly downslope flow will combine to reduce afternoon humidity values into the 10-20 percent range for many locations east of I-25, and especially throughout the Nebraska Panhandle. Gusty winds will spread eastward as well, with most of the aforementioned locations forecast to experience gusts over 30 mph on Monday afternoon. While recent snowfall has helped ground moisture somewhat, two consecutive days of windy, sunny, and dry weather will likely increase the grassland fire danger even in areas that recently did have snow on the ground. Therefore, given the high confidence of low humidity and gusty winds, we have upgraded the Fire Weather Watches to Red Flag Warnings on Monday. The only exception will be in the Cheyenne/western Laramie county area where localized areas of snow will linger on the ground through the day. Forecast confidence is extremely

LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 1203 PM MDT Sun Mar 8 2026

The next weather event set to impact southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska will be a cold front that will surge in from the north on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday itself will end up notably more cloudy than Monday as mid and upper-level moisture move in from the northwest. A wave of energy along the strong Pacific jet will eject through the northern Rockies on Tuesday afternoon, while at the same time a strong continental cold front moves southward along the northern high plains. Forecast guidance has been rather dispersive with the timing and strength of this cold front over the past two days of guidance cycles. Today's general consensus is that the front will run a bit slower, perhaps not making it into the CYS/BFF corridor until around 0z. Additionally, today's guidance runs are even drier in the lower levels of the atmosphere than yesterday's. While the northern Laramie range may still pick up an inch or two of snowfall with this front/trough passage, little to no accumulation is expected in areas east of the mountains on Tuesday evening through Tuesday night. The only exception to this may be if some post-frontal banded snowfall can set up, which is hinted at by the NAM/RRFS guidance. Even still, at most around a half inch to an inch would be the upper-end of this bullish outcome, and would only affect localized areas north of I-80.

Temperatures will cool off behind this front, but only briefly before yet another warmup and high wind event sets in from Wednesday afternoon through the end of the week. Afternoon highs will end up near seasonal averages on Wednesday, with highs returning to the low and mid-60s east of I-25 from Thursday through Saturday. High winds will return to the forecast headlines during this period as well as a strong Pacific jet stream sets up along and just to the north of the central Rockies over the Wyoming Plateau. Both strong downsloping as well as strong gradient forcing is indicated by forecast guidance throughout the Thursday-Friday timeframe. Very high probabilities (over 80%) in another prolonged high-wind event exist for the entire Wyoming wind-prone corridors along I-25 and I-80. The peak of this event currently appears to occur on Thursday afternoon and evening, where gusts over 80mph are likely along I-80 and gusts over 60mph in Cheyenne have at least a 45% chance of occurring. Headlines will likely be needed for this timeframe...but one high-wind at a time for now!

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/

Issued at 522 PM MDT Sun Mar 8 2026

High winds will continue through Monday evening. Low level wind shear will be prevalent for all terminals tonight with westerly winds between 45 to 60 knots possible. Monday evening the winds will start to die down as the cold front/ next system approaches from the North. There will be high based clouds moving through the region tonight and tomorrow but VFR conditions are still expected for the next 36 hours.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...Red Flag Warning from 9 AM to 6 PM MDT Monday for WYZ417-418- 431>433. High Wind Watch until 3 AM MDT Monday for WYZ101. High Wind Warning until 6 PM MDT Monday for WYZ106-110-116-117. High Wind Warning until 3 AM MDT Monday for WYZ107. NE...Red Flag Warning from 9 AM to 6 PM MDT Monday for NEZ434>437.