textproduct: Cheyenne

KEY MESSAGES

- High wind warnings ongoing for the usual wind prone locations of Wyoming, with high wind watches issued for Wyoming and a small portion of the Nebraska.

- Further windy conditions expected Thursday into Friday with additional wind products likely at that time.

- Warm weather expected to continue through Wednesday with a cold front briefly dropping our temperatures on Thursday before warming back up on Friday.

- Next chance for precipitation on Wednesday evening with periods of snow and rain possible.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 154 AM MST Tue Dec 16 2025

High wind warnings currently ongoing across the region this morning as breezy winds from a fairly potent low level jet are fueling the highlights for our usual wind prone locations. This feature should continue through the early afternoon with winds lessening into the late afternoon and early evening hours. But this will be a brief respite as a much more potent jet develops tonight into tomorrow, bringing a more widespread high wind event to most of our Wyoming zones and potentially overspreading into the Nebraska Panhandle as well. This next event will be caused by a stout upper level trough and low that will move across the region and flatten out the ridge that has been in control, helping to briefly bring our temperatures back down as well just beyond the short term. At the 700mb level, the low level jet will be howling on Wednesday, with speeds in the 70-90 knot range and very favorable downward omega values bringing these winds to the surface. Pressure gradients from Craig to Casper in excess of 80-90 meters will also ensure surface winds will be quite breezy, leading to this likely high wind event for our region. For this morning's update we have issued watches across the region in tandem with our neighboring offices, with these likely to be upgraded later this afternoon as the ongoing warnings expire later today. There is a chance we could see these watches/warnings expand further into the Nebraska Panhandle as well, or additional watches/warnings may be needed just beyond the short term as the jet flares again into Nebraska as the system moves across the region into Thursday.

Otherwise, temperatures will remain elevated and seasonably very warm to near record, with the approaching system bringing a quick shot of precipitation on Wednesday with widespread rain and mountain snow including several inches of new snowfall for the Snowy and Sierra-Madre ranges. Winter weather advisories are likely for our mountains, but snow ratios have been running a bit aggressive in the NBM so these amounts should be on the low-end for an advisory and the overall precipitation will be a quick shot before exiting.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/

Issued at 200 PM MST Mon Dec 15 2025

With a generally low amplitude upper air pattern through the next week there is good synoptic agreement upon how the pattern unfolds. Currently there is high confidence in a strong wave Wednesday dives a bit further south into the northern tier US states with subtle timing and strength differences among global ensembles. Things continue to come into better agreement and mainly differ on track timing. Yet another chance for high winds looks apparent beyond the midweek as we head into the weekend but lets take it one windy day at a time.

Looking at Wednesday we see 700mb flow ticks up over 60kts with high confidence and the 85th percentile showing as high as 70kts for a reasonable high end. This will bring more widespread high winds to the region with available guidance showing this to be a more widespread event likely bleeding outside the wind prones and into the adjacent high plains. This Wednesday event looks to be a quick hitter and not long lasting thankfully (<24 hours). The pressure gradient then looks to reverse for Thursday behind the pacific front shutting off the wind machine for a short time before another surge in winds aloft brings similar strength flow aloft to Wednesday event. This would begin Thursday evening for the wind prones and Friday morning for areas east the Laramie range lasting through Friday for all and possibly early Saturday for the wind prones. Flow then looks to turn more zonal with lesser chances for shortwave activity to bring impactful winds the region.

Along with the winds should come some light shots of moisture Wed/Thur and again next weekend. This would be most impactful for the high terrain (above 8000ft) where a few inches of snow would be expected though can't rule out a few hundredths of rain or a dusting of snow in the low elevations. Looking at temps quickly we are quite a bit above average (37-42F along and east of I25) with highs likely to reach well into the 50s for areas below 7000ft Wednesday and then Friday through the weekend. Thursday will be slightly cooler in the 40s behind the cold front. Low to mid 60s even appear probable Wednesday and Friday with high temperature records very much in danger for most locations on Friday. There is about a 30% chance currently within the North Platte river valley Friday for temps over 70. Digger even deeper into the stats if looks like most sites in the Panhandle have December all time record highs in the mid to upper 70s so we likely come up just a bit short of that but certainly nearing the very upper end of what is possible in terms of temps this time of year.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1045 AM MST Tue Dec 16 2025

VFR conditions will prevail through the TAF period. A brief lull in winds look likely in the evening and overnight period. Starting around 15z the wind gusts should return for most of the sites. Low level wind shear will be the main concern for majority of the sites starting around 12z. The wind shear looks to float between 45-50kts over the southeast Wyoming terminals and between 35 to 45 knots over the Nebraska terminals.

CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

WY...High Wind Watch from late tonight through Wednesday evening for WYZ101-103>105-109. High Wind Watch from Wednesday morning through Wednesday evening for WYZ102-107-108-115-118-119. High Wind Warning until noon MST today for WYZ106. High Wind Watch from late tonight through late Wednesday night for WYZ106-110-116-117. High Wind Warning until 3 PM MST this afternoon for WYZ110. High Wind Warning until 5 PM MST this afternoon for WYZ116-117. NE...High Wind Watch from Wednesday morning through Wednesday afternoon for NEZ095.