textproduct: Grand Junction

KEY MESSAGES

- Gusty winds and warm temperatures will occur each through the week. Northern valleys may see some gusts reach 40 mph at times.

- Anomalously warm temperatures close to 20 degrees above normal move in by the end of the week, with many locations seeing near- record breaking warmth.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/

Issued at 1116 AM MDT Tue Mar 10 2026

Water vapor imagery shows a stream of moisture moving within the flow around a shallow trough in the Northern Rockies region. As this trough digs southward towards the northern border of our CWA, weak moisture advection will bring increased cloud cover and elevated PoPs to the northern and central mountains. This moisture will quickly pass through the area tonight as the trough just barely reaches the northern half of our CWA during it's eastward propagation. The trough will provide a small amount of lift from some associated pieces of energy, but it's passage will also shift flow to northwesterly, which is favorable for orographic lift in the northern mountains. As such, light snowfall is possible in the northern and central mountains through early tomorrow morning. Although, the highest chances are during the evening today. Little to no accumulating snow is expected, with the highest forecasted amounts being just an inch or two at the very highest peaks of the Park Range. Less than an inch is anticipated anywhere else snow accumulates. The approaching trough, and associated jet and pressure gradient, is causing strong gusts this afternoon. Gusts up to 30 to 40 mph are possible in some higher elevation areas. Tomorrow afternoon gusts are not expected to be as strong as the pressure gradient weakens.

The trough passage will bring a cold front through the area tonight, which will provide a bit of additional lift for the light snowfall, but it will also bring cooler high temperatures tomorrow, by about 10 degrees when compared to today. Today's temperatures are expected to reach 10 to 15 degrees above normal, which could potentially result in record breaking highs in some areas.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 1116 AM MDT Tue Mar 10 2026

Rather robust northwest flow aloft will remain in place the rest of the week into the coming weekend as a strong jet remains in place across the Intermountain West and Northern Rockies with a rather expansive 160 kt jet streak to our north. The southern edge of this jet will remain across northwest Colorado where the winds are expected to be strongest. We will see breezy conditions each afternoon with gusts of 30 to 40 mph across northwest Colorado each afternoon. Relative humidity will be a bit higher though even though conditions are expected to be dry, so this will temper critical fire weather conditions here. Southwest Colorado valleys are another area that will see breezier conditions due to the favorable northwest flow pattern with lower relative humidity, so they will be flirting with critical fire weather conditions at times. Temperatures will be very warm as we stay on the southern side of the polar jet with high pressure building to the west, with highs approaching 10 to 15 or so degrees above normal which translates to 60s for the higher valleys and 70s for the lower valleys. Some desert valleys in southeast Utah could reach low 80s by the end of the week into the weekend.

Our next chance of precipitation comes late Saturday into Sunday as a robust shortwave causes the polar jet to dip further south across northwest Colorado with this strong jet streak passing through as well. Moisture does remain limited though with only the northern mountains seeing the best chance at precipitation although amounts are expected to remain light with a couple inches of snow at best mainly above 9000 feet. Temperatures will take a brief dip on Sunday by about 10 degrees on average with highs dropping to 5 to 10 degrees above normal before climbing back up again early next week to as much as 15 to 20 degrees above normal as the ridge of high pressure amplifies out west and is projected to move more directly overhead.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 539 PM MDT Tue Mar 10 2026

A cold front currently along the northern boundary will move north to south across the region tonight with gusty southwest to westerly winds ahead of the front shifting to northwesterly behind the front. Winds will settle down to more common down- slope winds an hour or two behind the front. This system will bring light rain and snow showers to the northern mountains with a slight chance for a light snow shower impacting KHDN between 0200Z and 0600Z. Look for skies to clear behind the front and gusty northwest winds to pick up after 1600Z as the inversions break.

GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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