textproduct: Pueblo

KEY MESSAGES

- Widespread critical fire weather conditions continue for today, with some areas remaining under Red Flag Warnings into tomorrow (Saturday) as well.

- A cold frontal passage tonight looks to kick off a pattern change towards cooler temperatures and ongoing precipitation chances for Saturday afternoon through Monday.

- High fire danger may be possible on Tuesday, with another active pattern setting in through the second half of next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/

Issued at 1126 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Rest of Today and Tonight..

Critical fire weather conditions have developed over portions of the high country as of 11 AM, and are expected to spread out towards the plains as winds increase over the lower elevations. Daytime highs are still expected to be warmer than normal, with mountain valleys climbing into the middle and upper 60s, and much of our plains climbing into the 70s and low 80s. Gusty southerly to southwesterly winds look to weaken after sunset. Precipitation is not expected across the area. Models bring a cold front through the region late tonight and into early Saturday morning, with high res guidance dropping it over the Palmer Divide as early as midnight. Northerly winds with gusts to 35 mph or so will be possible with its passage, but it does not look to bring significant chances for precipitation in the near term. Our overnight lows will remain near normal, with 20s and 30 for mountain valleys, and 30s to 40s for the plains.

Tomorrow..

Temperatures will br around 6 to 10 degrees cooler for our Saturday behind tonight's cold front, but we remain dry for most areas. Some very spotty snow chances begin to start up over the central mountains early in the afternoon, with slightly better chances over the Pikes Peak region towards late afternoon and early evening. Meaningful moisture looks to be meager for Saturday, with better chances incoming Saturday night into Sunday. Further south and west, critical fire weather conditions look to persist as westerly flow aloft "winds" for one more day. The San Luis Valley will see highest chances for widespread and persistent critical fire weather conditions, where 45 mph winds and single digit relative humidities are likely. Gap flow areas on the southern I-25 corridor will also likely see several hours of critical conditions, along with the Upper Arkansas River Valley. Both of these areas, which include fire weather zones 220, 229, and 230, have been added to tomorrow's Red Flag Warning as well, though conditions are not as likely to be widespread across these zones as they will be for zone 224 (the San Luis Valley).

LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 1126 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Sunday and Monday..

Snow chances increase Saturday night into Sunday over the high country, as moist southwest flow continues and models bring a robust shortwave over our region. This feature looks to spread snow chances across our mountains, generally for all elevations above 9,000 to 10,000 feet or so, and rain and thunderstorm chances for lower elevations as well. For now, models bring another decent looking shortwave over the area Sunday into Monday, which looks to keep the messy but moist pattern over us for another day. Some solutions have trended slightly north, which keeps better qpf over NW Colorado, but not all solution have trended this way as of this writing. For now, it looks like at least our mountains and our northern plains should see decent chances at wetting rains and/or snow depending on elevation for Sunday and Monday. Temperatures are looking to stay near normal as well, though again a northwards trend would warm us up a few degrees from our current forecast.

Tuesday Onwards..

Behind this messy pattern, models bring in rather strong zonal flow for Tuesday. Especially for any areas that don't manage to see any precip earlier in the week, this could mean critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday. For now, it seems possible that the San Luis Valley, the I-25 corridor, and the southern plains could all see critical conditions Tuesday, with most areas at least warming up and drying out from where they were over the weekend. Models remain messy and inconsistent with the second half of next week, but many solutions still point towards a possible cold front around the Wednesday or Thursday timeframe, with more possible chances for snow over the high country, and rain and thunderstorms on the plains through this timeframe as well.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1114 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

VFR conditions are anticipated during the next 24 hours at all 3 taf sites, KPUB, KALS and KCOS.

Main issue will be a cold frontal passage at KCOS and KPUB around the midnight hour. After FROPA, winds will become gusty from a northerly component for several hours before decreasing.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1126 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Very dry conditions, gusty winds, and receptive fuels remain widespread today, and will persist for some areas tomorrow as well.

Widespread critical fire weather conditions have developed over portions of the high country late this morning, and are expected to continue to spread across the lower elevations as winds increase early this afternoon. Gusts to 45 mph and single digit relative humidity values are likely for much of the area today.

Fire weather conditions become more limited in coverage for Saturday. The San Luis Valley is likely to see the most widespread coverage of continue single digit rh with gusts to 45 mph remaining possible. Gap flow areas of the southern I-25 corridor are also likely to see several hours of critical conditions, along with the Upper Arkansas River Valley. For this reason, zones 220, 229, and 230 have been added to Saturday's Red Flag Warning as well. Spotty elevated conditions may also be possible for our gap flow area in eastern Fremont, southern El Paso, and northern Pueblo counties, but conditions are not expected to be long-lived enough to warrant highlights at this time, especially with post-frontal easterly winds developing tomorrow morning.

PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT this evening for COZ220>222- 224>237. Red Flag Warning from noon to 8 PM MDT Saturday for COZ220-224- 229-230.