textproduct: Grand Junction

KEY MESSAGES

- A warming trend begins tomorrow, with temperatures climbing to 10-15 degrees above normal by mid-week.

- Favored cold pool valleys, including the Gunnison and Yampa river valleys, will see another chilly night with lows near to several degrees below zero again tonight.

- Dry and quiet conditions persist through the week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 148 PM MST Sat Jan 10 2026

With a deep trough across the Plains and ridging building in across the Western CONUS, the Intermountain West remains under cold, dry northerly flow. Highs today remain near to a few degrees below normal, under mostly sunny skies. Some low clouds and light flurries have lingered along the Northern Divide, but these are beginning to erode as flow aloft shifts to more northwesterly and weak warm air advection kicks in. Skies remain clear tonight, with light winds and relatively fresh snow promoting good radiational cooling conditions. Typical cold pool valleys, including the Upper Gunnison and Yampa, will see another cold night tonight with lows in the single digits on either side of zero. Have held off cooling these locations further, as they don't seem to be reacting the way we would typically expect under such conditions. Have instead gone with persistence, with lows expected to fall to near where they did last night.

A wave moving into the Pacific Northwest will work to flatten out the ridge, turning flow more zonal over eastern Utah and western Colorado. A pocket of enhanced upper level moisture will move through tomorrow, bringing high level cloudiness but not much else. Temperatures will climb to around 5 degrees above normal as the warm air advection really gets underway. However, valley inversions could throw a wrench into this forecast, keeping valleys colder than forecast. Where valley inversions do successfully set up, fog and low stratus may develop overnight. Otherwise, conditions remain quiet and mild as we close out the weekend.

LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 148 PM MST Sat Jan 10 2026

High pressure drives the forecast through much of next week. This will lead to a stretch of warm days, cool nights, and dry conditions. There may be some light orographic snow showers over the northern mountains from time to time due to persistent northwesterly flow aloft, but impacts are not anticipated. Aside from the Tuesday into Wednesday timeframe, the airmass overhead may even be too dry for orographic flurries.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1011 AM MST Sat Jan 10 2026

Skies will remain mostly clear today, with passing high level clouds. The exception is along the Northern Divide mountains, where some stubborn low-level clouds are lingering, impacting KHDN. These clouds should lift over the next 4-6 hours. Winds will generally light, following typical terrain driven patterns. Drainage winds between 06z and 12z could be on the stronger side, particularly for KHDN and KGJT, with winds sustained up to 15 knots. VFR conditions will prevail.

GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

CO...None. UT...None.