textproduct: Pueblo

KEY MESSAGES

-Behind a passing front, cold air moves into the region, bringing winter weather through the weekend.

- Period of arctic cold and prolonged off and on light snow Friday through Saturday night with heaviest accumulations across the mountain areas where Winter Weather Advisories have been issued.

- Dangerous wind chills expected Friday night through Saturday for portions of the southeast plains where Cold Weather Advisories have been posted.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/

Issued at 227 PM MST Thu Jan 22 2026

Currently...

Winds across the eastern plains have already shifted more easterly, with cooling temperatures expected shortly. Satellite shows increased moisture content to our east and south, while surface obs indicate the front has already entered northeast Colorado.

Rest of Today and Tonight...

As arctic air continues to funnel into our region, persistent east winds will keep the eastern plains under low-level clouds throughout the night. Lows will be cold, with most locations in the low-teens to single digits. Meanwhile, moisture influx from the southwest will kick up the beginning of light snow showers over the peaks of the Continental Divide as we head into early Friday morning.

Friday...

Stronger surge of arctic air will arrive on Friday, along with the upper forcing needed to increase snowfall across the higher terrain. High temperatures will likely occur during the late morning timeframe, only hitting teens-20s over the plains, before falling the rest of the day. Most of the cold air should stay out of the San Luis Valley however, with highs in the 40s. Snow will continue spreading over the Continental Divide, then to the rest of the higher terrain by midday. By late afternoon, scattered POPs spread to the eastern plains as well, though the best confidence in any daytime precip out east mainly lies along our eastern border. Given the cold temperatures and moisture content of the incoming system, there is a low, but still non-zero chance for a flash freeze early Friday morning over those areas, so travel may be dangerous.

Added note for the mountains: have expanded the Winter Weather Advisories for the southeast mountains to include the lower slopes, as well as the Wet Mountain Valley. Persistent upsloping will likely lead to locally higher amounts. Have also upgraded the eastern San Juans to a Winter Storm Warning, given the good Pacific moisture influx from the west-southwest, and the favorable orographic flow into that area.

LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 209 AM MST Thu Jan 22 2026

Snow continues overnight and intensifies on Saturday as broad overrunning develops ahead of the digging trough to the northwest. Overall snowfall totals of 5 to 12 inches will be possible across the higher central and southwest mountains with the crest of the Sangre De Cristo mountains seeing some rounds of light to moderate snow at times. Best chance of snow for the adjacent I-25 corridor and southeast plains will be Saturday into Saturday night. It is possible that advisories may need to be expanded into the southern I-25 corridor and possibly Baca county as probabilities of 4 inches or more of snow has increased to around 50 percent within the National Blend of Models. But as the easterly upslope component remains fairly shallow through the event, and best upglide over the baroclinic zone shifts southward into NM, have some uncertainties as to how heavy snowfall will get over our southeast mountains and plains. As this event is still a couple days out, will let later shifts refine these details and expand advisories if necessary.

Another emphasis with this storm will be the cold as high temperatures on Saturday may struggle to get much above 10 degrees. Dropped temperatures closer to the 25 percentile of the NBM for Friday through Sunday across the plains with the 60 day climo likely biasing temperatures too warm in the mean NBM output. This yielded a good 10-20 degree drop for Fri and Sat. Winds will be strongest Fri and Fri night had have hoisted some Cold Weather Advisories for Kiowa and Prowers counties for Friday night through Saturday morning where confidence is greatest that wind chills will meet or exceed -18 degrees. It's possible these advisories may need to expand westward as well depending on how cold temperatures get Saturday night as the snow decreases and some clearing spreads in from the north.

After another cold night Sunday night, drier and warmer weather will return next week as the flow aloft becomes more westerly and cold air retreats eastward. We may get another cold front and a chance of snow for late next week as another system drops across the region in northwest flow. -KT

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 1027 AM MST Thu Jan 22 2026

KALS: VFR conditions and light winds are expected through 24 hours, with increasing mid-level clouds tonight.

KCOS and KPUB: VFR through the rest of today. A front will move in this afternoon, shifting winds easterly and increasing cloud cover. Late tonight and into Friday morning, upsloping winds will result in low stratus over both terminals, dropping MVFR-IFR until the end of this forecast period.

PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Winter Weather Advisory from 11 AM Friday to 5 AM MST Sunday for COZ058-060-066-072>075-078>080. Winter Storm Warning from 11 AM Friday to 5 AM MST Sunday for COZ068. Cold Weather Advisory from 5 PM Friday to 11 AM MST Saturday for COZ095-096-098.