textproduct: Pueblo

KEY MESSAGES

- A cold front arrives early Sunday morning, bringing cooler (but still warmer than normal) temperatures for our Sunday and Monday.

- Continued anomalously warm temperatures and critical fire weather concerns are expected for next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SUNDAY/

Issued at 1225 PM MDT Sat Mar 21 2026

Tonight and Sunday..

Overnight low temperatures look to remain just as warm or warmer for some locations as where we were last night, thanks to continued westerly flow and mixing. The San Luis Valley and Upper Arkansas River Valley looks to see lows in the 30s, with most other/lower elevation locations remaining in the 40s and 50s. Models bring a cold front across the plains near sunrise tomorrow morning, ushering in gusty north winds and cooler temperatures, but not much in the way of precip chances. Winds look to gust to 35 or 40 mph on our far eastern plains and over El Paso County as the front is pushing through, weakening throughout the late morning hours. This front will help to keep temperatures in the 70s for all lower elevation locations tomorrow, to include the San Luis Valley. Dewpoints also hop from near zero today to 20s and 30s for tomorrow, which will bring relative humidity values into the teens and 20s for tomorrow afternoon. Cloud cover increases throughout the day behind the front, but meaningful precipitation is not likely. A few very light showers may be possible over the higher elevations of the Pikes Peak region, but only with trace amounts of moisture possible.

LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 1225 PM MDT Sat Mar 21 2026

Sunday Night and Monday..

Overnight lows Sunday night into Monday morning will be much cooler than the previous several nights, but still around 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. Most of the plains looks to cool into the 30s and low 40s, with 20s for mountain valleys. Ridging begins to set back up across the region on Monday, allowing our temperatures to warm into the middle 70s to low 80s for mountain valleys and plains locations. Our flow aloft becomes slightly more northwesterly throughout the day, with just enough flow to likely lead to critical fire weather concerns over portions of the high country, the San Luis Valley, and the I-25 corridor. Precipitation is not expected.

Tuesday Onwards..

We remain on the northern/northeastern periphery of the ridge through mid-week, keeping westerly and northwesterly flow aloft over the region. This setup will lead to another round of warmer than normal, and possibly near record, temperatures for Tuesday through Thursday. Critical fire weather conditions are expected over and near the mountains for Tuesday and Wednesday, and become more widespread on Thursday depending on the timing of an incoming cold front. Models have been back and forth on whether it will arrive Thursday or early Friday. Earlier arrival will stave off fire danger concerns for Thursday. Highs on Friday and next Saturday look to cool back down somewhat behind the departing wave, but are likely to remain warmer than normal. Moisture potential with the late week system is looking meager.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z MONDAY/

Issued at 543 PM MDT Sat Mar 21 2026

VFR conditions are expected at all three TAF sites, KCOS, KPUB, and KALS, for the next 24 hours. Gusty w-sw winds will continue at all terminals into the evening, then gradually diminish after sunset. A cold front is expected to push through KCOS and KPUB 10z/11z Sun morning, with north winds gusting 25-30 kts into early afternoon. Winds will then shift to e-se and slowly weaken by late Sun afternoon.

CLIMATE

Issued at 1230 PM MDT Sat Mar 21 2026

LCD sites March 20th-21st Record Highs ALS...Sat...Mar 21...72F...1997 COS...Sat...Mar 21...75F...1995 PUB...Sat...Mar 21...82F...2016

The all time record March max temp for Alamosa .........is 78. The all time record March max temp for Colorado Springs is 81. The all time record March max temp for Pueblo ..........is 89.

These all time record March max temperatures were set or tied yesterday (Friday March 20, 2026).

PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Red Flag Warning until 11 PM MDT this evening for COZ220>230- 237.