textproduct: Grand Junction

KEY MESSAGES

- Tomorrow afternoon through early Sunday strong wind gusts up to 50 mph are expected for the northern and central valleys with gusts exceeding 70 mph for the northern mountains as a strong cold front pushes through. Strong gusts linger across the southern valleys on Sunday.

- Warm, dry and windy conditions tomorrow will lead to elevated fire weather concerns and open burning is not recommended.

- A strong cold front will bring a rapid drop in temperatures, strong winds and mountain snow favoring the northern and central Colorado mountains Saturday night through Sunday morning. Difficult travel is expected in the mountains due to snow and blowing snow.

- Anomalously warm temperatures around 20 degrees above normal are possible next week following this brief cold snap and could lead to some new record highs by late next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 1032 PM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

No real big changes to the forecast this go around except to add wind advisories to a portion the southern CO valleys for prefrontal winds today and stronger post frontal winds tomorrow. Our clipper system is moving across the far northern parts of the PacNW where it has been snowing in the lower elevations including the Seattle area. That says something about the strength...cold air and moisture available as this system digs through the Northern Rockies tomorrow and quickly onto the Plains on Sunday. A good portion of the moisture will get utilized upstream of us but this clipper will send a strong cold front through the area...and make up for it with a lot of wind. Winds look to gusts in the 40 to 55 mph range over a majority of our lower valleys today with gusts of 55 to 75 mph over the mountains. These gusts will continue overnight as the front drops through. The strong cold advection will aid momentum transfer and some of the highest gusts may occur near the fropa. The southern valleys usually get quite windy in the post frontal regime and the core or stronger winds aloft extend across the 4 Corners early Sunday...so again the advisory will continue there for Sunday. QPF seems to be trending slightly less but enough snow and wind will combine across our northern and central mountains and passes that travel will be sketchy tonight into Sunday. Temperatures will be a big story with highs running around 15 degrees above normal today and by tomorrow will be 25 to 30 degrees colder than today.

LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 1032 PM MDT Fri Mar 13 2026

Sunday night has a longwave pattern with high pressure off the California Coast and a deep longwave trough to the east over the Plains States with a strong north-northwesterly flow aloft over eastern Utah and Western Colorado pulling cold Canadian air down into the region. Look for a cold morning Monday with temperatures down in the mid 20's in the Grand Valley dropping into the teens around Delta, and teens into the 20's in the Four Corners area and the northern valleys. If you're in these areas that have had mild weather for the past week or two, you might need to take action to protect sensitive plants that may have started budding. This cold will be short lived as the longwave pattern drifts east until the high settles into the Desert Southwest to camp by Wednesday bringing a sharp warming trend beginning Monday as the flow aloft turns more zonal with warm air advection. Another jetstreak drops in across the northern mountains Monday evening for a last hurrah with associated upper level dynamics that will be enough to trigger a few snow showers late in the day into the evening, but drier lower levels will limit accumulations to little if any on the higher elevations. Otherwise, look for temperatures to run near normal to five degrees above normal across the region Monday afternoon, warming to 10 to 15 degrees above normal Tuesday, 15 to 20 degrees above normal Wednesday and 20 to 25 degrees above normal Thursday into the weekend with some areas reaching 30 degrees above normal.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 522 AM MDT Sat Mar 14 2026

Sheltered valleys have seen typical diurnal winds continue through the night, along with LLWS concerns. By 18z, strong, gusty westerly winds will mix down to the surface at all terminals. Gusts of 25-35 knots will be common from 18z to 00z. Cold frontal passage between 00z and 06z will bring even higher gusts, with up to 50 knots possible. Winds will diminish slightly after 06z, although gusts of 20-30 knots will still be common, though direction will shift to more northwesterly. Light rain and snow showers will develop along the northern and central Divide between 00z and 06z, and linger through 12z. This will mainly impact KHDN, KEGE, and KASE. VFR conditions will prevail, although drops to MVFR/IFR conditions will be possible at the above mentioned terminals after 06z, due to snow and strong winds reducing VIS.

GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

CO...Wind Advisory from noon today to 6 AM MDT Sunday for COZ001- 002-006>008-011-014. Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 9 AM MDT Sunday for COZ004-010. Wind Advisory from noon today to 8 PM MDT Sunday for COZ021- 022. UT...Wind Advisory from noon today to 6 AM MDT Sunday for UTZ024- 027. High Wind Warning from noon today to 6 AM MDT Sunday for UTZ023.