textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- High Wind Warnings in effect for the wind prone areas across southeast Wyoming through at least midday Tuesday.

- Elevated to near critical fire weather conditions are expected over portions of the High Plains late Tuesday morning through the middle of the afternoon.

- A brief shot of much colder temperatures possible across the area Friday into Saturday with some light snow.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 250 AM MST Tue Jan 20 2026

High Wind Warnings look on track early this morning for the wind prone areas of southeast Wyoming. Arlington area has gusted up to 62 MPH already with winds increasing further to the east over the southern Laramie Range the past hour or two. Current high res guidance shows a somewhat lower chance for strong winds for the Bordeaux area/I-25 south of Wheatland. In-house wind guidance suggests this as well with probabilities below 25% to 30%. Will keep the Warning going for now and will also monitor the southern Laramie Range foothills west of Cheyenne. Otherwise, current forecast for today looks on track. Surface cold front will dig south out of Canada through this afternoon. Should see late morning/early afternoon highs near 50 degrees for far southeast Wyoming and the central/southern Nebraska Panhandle. However, once the front moves across the area...expect afternoon temperatures to quickly drop back into the 30s by sunset or shortly thereafter. Periods of light snow and/or flurries expected along and immediately behind the cold front this afternoon and this evening, mainly over southeast Wyoming. Any snow accumulations should remain below a half an inch outside of the mountains, with most places seeing a dusting between 3 PM and 9 PM.

Seasonably cold temperatures are expected Wednesday and Thursday as another reinforcing shot of colder air moves into the area later Wednesday and into Thursday. Most of Wednesday will not be too bad closer to the I-80 corridor as surface winds shift a little more out of the west, allowing some downslope component to the wind direction through the day. Bulk of the colder air begins to arrive late Wednesday night and Thursday with high temperatures struggling to reach freezing across much of the area. No precipitation expected with the secondary shot of colder air on Thursday, with the bulk of the arctic airmass remaining just to our northeast. Thankfully, winds should ease by Thursday ahead of the next cold front later this week.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 252 PM MST Mon Jan 19 2026

The long term has a stronger signal for a more active end to the month but that may not necessarily equate to significant snow events. The ridge over the West Coast is preventing a lot moisture from advecting into the Intermountain West often leading to moisture starved systems and little snow accumulations. A more favorable chance of snow likely is going to be Friday into Saturday. The upper level trough pushing through will be a lot stronger as that low pressure system over the Hudson Bay wobbles a little more south. However, the question becomes how much moisture will we have to be able to utilize as the trough moves through. The models still retain a little moisture ahead of the trough moving through just like in previous runs however, the intermountain west has a habit of drying out faster than models projected. Another caveat, is the ridge over the West coast looks to be rebuilding later in the week which may also lead to drier conditions and less available moisture that originally modeled. Low Pops were kept for this potential scenario however, if we do have a slower building ridge than we can reasonably expect higher snow totals and more widespread snow showers in the lower elevations. The probabilities for 1 inch of snow for the high plains is still about 10 to 20 percent.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 505 AM MST Tue Jan 20 2026

Surface cold front will push south across the region today and into Colorado by this evening. Gusty West to northwest winds will shift out of the north with brief snow flurries or snow showers possible this afternoon through this evening.

HAZARDS/WEATHER TRENDS: VFR conditions will prevail over the next 24 hours with intervals of midlevel clouds. LLWS will continue over the next few hours for mainly KCYS and KLAR. Winds will then increase after 15z with west winds shifting into the northwest with gusts of 25 to 35 knots. Some light snow will accompany the front, but kept out of the TAF for now due to low confidence and questionable areal coverage.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...High Wind Warning until 2 PM MST this afternoon for WYZ106-110- 116. NE...None.