textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- Widespread rain showers and mountain snowfall expected through Monday morning as a central Pacific system lifts northeast across the region. - Near normal temperatures and a bit warmer by Tuesday through Thursday, but the next Pacific system will be approaching from the eastern Pacific later in the week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 153 PM MDT Mon Oct 26 2026

Well that was a fun start to the day for the Nebraska Panhandle. Basically as the low pressure system was wrapping up and pushing North-northeast a little band of FGEN (area of enhanced rain/snowfall) set up over the southern panhandle that no model was tracking correctly. Due to the band of enhanced rainfall the temperatures dropped and the rain transitioned to snowfall a lot faster than anticipated. A last minute SPS was issued for the Western portion of the Panhandle for localized 1-3 inches that may cause some possible delays. There was a report of 3 inches on the border of the Banner and Scotts Bluff county to confirm the SPS was needed. Mid-level water vapor showed dry air eventually being ingested by the Low pressure system eventually causing the showers to slowly dissipate in the southern half of the Panhandle. Dawes county is currently the last county with active snow showers but those should eventually stop around 3pm-ish. However, with all this low level moisture and an area of high pressure following in the systems wake, the cloud cover may resurface overnight for the Panhandle and the far eastern side of the SOutheast Wyoming area. This overnight cloud cover though will keep us relatively warmer overnight with temperatures in the mid to upper 30's with some areas reaching around 40 degrees. Another system is making landfall over the pacific northwest which will compress the gradient as it runs into our area of high pressure. Meaning tomorrow morning it will be fairly windy west of the I-25 corridor between Rawlins and Laramie as the 700mb jet creeps up to speeds around 55 knots and diurnal mixing starts to occur. Wind gusts up to 60 mph may be likely along that wind prone stretch of I-80 but wind gusts between 50 to 55 mph may be more likely. These gusty winds will taper down from those elevated gusts through the afternoon but it will be fairly breezy through the overnight hours. Temperatures are expected to be in the 50's and 60's by Tuesday afternoon but the mountain peaks will stay closer to the mid 30's during the afternoon hours. The models have some overnight clouds pushing through Tuesday night as that system from the Pacific Northwest climbs back into the Canadian providences as it goes up and over our area of developing high pressure. If any clouds remain over our forecast area overnight then the spots underneath those clouds may be a touch warmer that forecasted.

LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 129 AM MDT Mon Oct 26 2026

Medium Range models remain in good agreement for much of mid to late week as weak to moderate southwest flow aloft dominates the weather pattern across the northern Front Range. With a lack of Pacific (shortwave) energy embedded in the mean southwest flow aloft through Friday, expect generally dry conditions and mild temperatures Wednesday through Friday as the polar jet stream will remain well to the north, and the subtropical jet should stay well south of the region near the Mexico/USA border and into Texas. Since southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska will be in between storm tracks, relatively mild temperatures are expected through the end of the week with afternoon highs in the upper 50s to upper 60s. Temperatures should peak Friday afternoon as 700mb temperatures climb over 5c ahead of the next Pacific storm system moving onshore, with a few locations possibly reaching 70 degrees east of the Interstate 25 corridor.

Deterministic models are in better agreement for next weekend, but ensembles still depict relatively low confidence with precipitation chances...mainly due to the evolution and speed of the Pacific energy moving onshore. Thankfully, with the Pacific energy trending a little slower, Halloween evening looks decent with maybe a few rain showers in the evening. Temperatures should be relatively mild for this time of the year in the upper 30s to upper 40s between sunset and 10:00 PM. Winds appear light and variable and should result in a pleasant evening. Models do show the first of a series of upper level disturbances lifting northward across the area on Halloween, but the system is pretty progressive with the best dynamics located north and west of the I-25 corridor. A more potent system is forecast to arrive on Sunday and continue early next week. Model solutions and ensemble members diverge significantly with this storm system, so will not go into too much detail at this time. However, temperatures will trend cooler and likely below average for this time of the year by next Sunday and Monday.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 1151 AM MDT Mon Oct 26 2026

The TAF is kind of a mixed bag of VFR, MVFR, and IFR. As this low keeps pushing NNE the clouds will vary from MVFR to IFR throughout the day for KCYS and the Nebraska Terminals. FOR KLAR and KRWL expect ceilings to become VFR over if not already as the dry air moving in slowly dissipates the lower cloud decks. KCYS ceilings look to float between 500 and 1,500ft over night before becoming VFR by Tuesday morning. For the Nebraska Terminals, low MVFR to IFR ceilings are expected this evening before dropping below 1,000ft over night and maybe becoming VFR around 15-17z.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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