textproduct: Grand Junction

KEY MESSAGES

- Record heat and predominately dry conditions persist through much of the coming week.

- Red Flag Warnings are in place near the Four Corners today and in northwestern Colorado tomorrow. Localized critical fire weather conditions will occur elsewhere across the region.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1220 PM MDT Mon Aug 3 2026

Afternoon high temperatures have come down marginally and are expected to drop a couple more degrees over the coming days. Nonetheless, the Desert Southwest high is still in place and we are running hotter than normal by about 5 degrees, leaving most valley locations with triple-digit highs throughout the week. Some areas may still break high temperature records. Overnight lows look to fair a little better though with most of the region approaching near-normal lows through the first half of the week before we see nighttime temperatures warm back up in the latter half of the week. This extended period of hotter-than-normal temperatures paired with a drier atmosphere is prompting another round of fire weather concerns though. Today, locally strong winds near the Four Corners and relative humidities potentially in the single digits have prompted Red Flag Warnings. These fire weather concerns shift to the north tomorrow as a broad, yet shallow trough drops southwards across the northern Rockies. With strengthening flow overhead tomorrow afternoon as a result, Red Flag Warnings have been issued for some northwestern Colorado zones.

There is some uncertainty with both today and tomorrow's critical fire weather conditions though, namely in the anticipated wind speeds. NBM gusts may be overdone slightly in the Four Corners today, and we have yet to see widespread strong gusts forming in this area per surface observations. Regardless, some localized areas are starting to see wind speeds perking up, and the relative humidities are already well below critical fire weather thresholds. Tomorrow, hi-res model guidance has yet to pinpoint corridors of stronger gusts. Higher confidence areas to exceed 25 mph gusts reside over the high terrain of the Flat Tops and Park Range. However, relative humidities over the higher elevations are not expected to fall into critical fire weather thresholds. Regardless, we are anticipating scattered areas of Red Flag conditions in these zones and feel confidence is high enough to support the fire weather highlights. Stay tuned over the next 24 hours for updates.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 1120 AM MDT Mon Aug 3 2026

Few to scattered cloud cover is expected across the region today. Look for gusts to develop at all terminals over the next couple hours with speeds reaching 18-25 kts. VFR conditions prevail throughout the TAF period.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1220 PM MDT Sun Aug 2 2026

Hot and dry conditions will persist through much of the coming week. Today, critical fire weather conditions are expected near the Four Corners, and tomorrow critical fire weather conditions shift into northwestern Colorado. Model guidance is still inconsistent regarding gust speeds and locations of the strongest gusts, but coverage is anticipated to be sufficient enough to develop large swaths of Red Flag conditions, hence fire weather highlights are in effect both today and tomorrow afternoon. Localized Red Flag conditions may develop elsewhere across the CWA as well. Wetting rains are not expected throughout most of the work week.

GJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

CO...Red Flag Warning from 1 PM to 7 PM MDT Tuesday for COZ201-202- 205. Heat Advisory until 9 PM MDT Tuesday for COZ006. Red Flag Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for COZ207. UT...Heat Advisory until 9 PM MDT Tuesday for UTZ022. Red Flag Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for UTZ491. Extreme Heat Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for UTZ027- 029. Heat Advisory from 9 PM this evening to 9 PM MDT Tuesday for UTZ027-029.