textproduct: Pueblo

KEY MESSAGES

- Only isolated storms mountains til early evening. Scattered showers and storms Thursday afternoon and evening.

- Seasonable temperatures through the weekend and into next week.

- Isolated precipitation development over both the higher and lower terrain through the start of the weekend, with an increase in coverage early next week.

SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/

Issued at 258 PM MDT Wed Jul 2 2025

Currently...generally clear skies continue this afternoon across much of southern Colorado, with a few showers bubbling up along the Continental Divide. Temperatures have warmed through the 80s to near 90 across the Plains, and 70s over the San Luis Valley. Expect an additional couple degrees of warming this afternoon.

Rest of today and tonight...upper level ridging over Colorado will slowly shift eastward through tonight, while an upper trough moves out of California into southern Utah. Weak energy under the upper ridge will lead to isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms along the Continental Divide this afternoon. The main concerns from thunderstorms will be brief heavy rainfall, lightning and outflow wind gusts near 40 mph. Any showers and thunderstorms look to dissipate after sunset and the loss of daytime heating. Overnight lows will fall into the 50s and 60s across the Plains, with 40s forecast across the San Luis Valley.

Thursday...the upper ridge will shift east into the Central Plains, while the trough over southern Utah begins to move into western Colorado. Flow aloft will transition southwesterly by the afternoon. Another round of showers and thunderstorms are forecast to develop by late morning to early afternoon along the Continental Divide, then spread eastward during the afternoon, including the San Luis valley and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Locally heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail and outflow winds to near 50 mph. A few of these thunderstorms will shift eastward into the I-25 corridor by late afternoon. Temperatures look to remain hot across the lower elevations, with upper 80s and lower 90s, while the San Luis Valley see highs in the 70s and lower 80s.

LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/

Issued at 314 AM MDT Wed Jul 2 2025

Upper trough anticipated to progress across the region at the start of the period, lifting to the northeast on Friday with some weak height rises aloft noted. This along with continued drying across the region should limit precip development over southern Colorado for the 4th. If anything develops it looks to be rather isolated over the higher terrain and even more isolated over the eastern plains. In this setup, should see 700mb temps rise, especially with deeper westerlies in place. Did increase high temps slightly on Friday, though still staying near or slightly above normal for this time of the year. By Saturday, no real big changes anticipated as another day of upper ridging and drying, bringing similar temps with limited precip development.

By late in the weekend into early next week, should see ridge flatten some and looking to usher in more energetic flow along with some increased moisture. In this setup, will see similar normal to slightly above normal temperatures persist. This looks to bring some uptick in precip development to the area Sunday and Monday. However, moving into the middle part of next week, ridge looks to really establish itself over the western CONUS. This setup would support additional warming along with a return to more afternoon isolated to scattered precip development during this time frame.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 258 PM MDT Wed Jul 2 2025

VFR conditions at all three terminals (KALS, KCOS, KPUB) through much of the next 24 hours. Thunderstorms will likely develop across the San Luis Valley by mid afternoon and could impact KALS after 20z/Thurs. Reduced CIGS and VIS along with gusty outflow winds may be possible with thunderstorms. An isolated shower or thunderstorm could impact KCOS and KPUB near 00z/Fri

PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.