textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- Warming resumes Wednesday as a ridge builds back in, with similar temperatures next weekend as this past weekend.

- Elevated to critical fire weather conditions may make a return late week into the weekend due to low RH and marginal winds.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 1212 AM MDT Wed Aug 5 2026

Lets start off the short term period, Wednesday through Thursday night, looking at the upper levels. Currently we are sitting under a weak trough, bringing west northwest flow into the region. As we progress, this will push off to the east as ridging over the Desert Southwest noses back into our CWA by Thursday. The orientation of the ridge keeps us in the northeast quadrant, which will not be favorable for a monsoonal push of moisture, so we will remain dry through this forecast period. However, this ridge will aid in bringing hot southerly flow back into our CWA. This is depicted nicely with 700MB temperatures surging back into the 16-20 degrees C range by Thursday. This will be reflected nicely at the surface with highs topping out in the 80s on Wednesday and 90s to near 100 on Thursday. Taking a quick look at winds, not much to write about there either as no high wind events in the foreseeable future. A weak mid-level jet slides through late Wednesday, with the strongest winds around 40 knots across eastern Wyoming and the Nebraska Panhandle. With enough subsidence, negative Omega (GFS), some of these winds will make it to the surface late Wednesday and we will see a slight uptick at the surface with gusts 30 to 35 mph. The other thing that we will be monitoring is the fire weather potential, we will see minimum RH values tank over the next two days to as low as 5 percent. However, winds will not be there for critical conditions, so elevated fire weather concerns will be in play by Thursday.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 1212 AM MDT Wed Aug 5 2026

Will keep this long term discussion short a sweet as there is not much to talk about with the synoptic set-up that will take hold over the region. Starting off the long term period, Friday marks the day that ridging takes hold. This will not only usher in warmer temperatures, but block or hamper any moisture transport into the region, resulting in an increased risk of critical and/or elevated fire weather conditions, more on that in a bit. Therefore, expect dry conditions with highs topping out well into the 90s by Friday. Then the real heat makes a return over the weekend when highs once again surge into the low 100s, warmest across far eastern Wyoming and the Nebraska Panhandle. As mentioned briefly, with the ridge strengthening, don't expect much relief from any precipitation as we will remain dry heading into next week. A byproduct of this dryness and heat will be an increase in fire weather concerns as daytime RH values plummet into the single digit to teens each day. Because of this, expect an elevated fire weather environment, with the potential to become critical with any increase in winds. So stay tuned...

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1152 AM MDT Wed Aug 5 2026

Low clouds/CIGs are still impacting KSNY. Overcast clouds prevail at KSNY until later this afternoon when the clouds clear. All other terminals have cleared out the low clouds/CIGs from last night and are expected to continue having mostly clear skies. Winds are calm across all terminals except for KCYS and KLAR. KCYS and KLAR are expected to have winds gusting to 20 knots out of NNW this afternoon.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...Air Quality Alert until 11 AM MDT Thursday for WYZ101>119. NE...None.