Marty’s Sunday Morning Forecast – Too Much Wind – 2/3/19
Today: We’ll have a partly cloudy sky and the air will be warm again but we expect for many areas it will remain very windy throughout the day. The wind might make it worth your while to spend some time inside watching a little football as gusts over lower elevations will routinely reach to between 30 and 40 mph; damaging gusts over 60 mph will remain possible over and near the mountains, especially southwest of Pueblo. A High Wind Warning is in effect for the Sangre De Cristo, Wet Mountains and adjacent high plains until 8:00 PM, this includes the cities of Canon City, Pueblo, Walsenburg and Trinidad. Additionally for areas that do not have snow on the ground fire weather is a concern and so the National Weather Service has issued A Red Flag Warning that includes areas along the I-25 corridor from Colorado Springs southward through Trinidad from 8:00 this morning until 6 PM this evening. High temperatures will reach the 60s to lower 70s for the plains with 40s to lower 50s for our local mountain areas. Snow and wind will continue to cause winter driving conditions over the high country today with snowfall gradually decreasing late, and the big mountain valleys will remain chilly with high temperatures only in the 30s.
Tonight: Partly cloudy for most areas with windy conditions continuing at times over and near the mountains. Although damaging wind gusts appear less likely as the night progresses, some areas may continue to experience wind gusts over 40 mph occasionally through daybreak. The wind will keep the air pretty warm through the night with temperatures hovering in the 40s for much of the night near the mountains, but low lying areas farther east and our local mountain communities should cool into the 20s and 30s.
Extended: The wind won’t be as strong on Monday but we could still have wind gusts between 30 and 40 mph at times for some areas. The air overhead will cool a little on Monday so all areas will be a bit cooler, but for low lying areas near the Kansas state line the cooling may be more significant as a shallow layer of much colder air will slide over the far eastern part of the state. It’s difficult to know where the western edge of this much colder air will end up, but it is something we will track closely starting Monday, and the shallow layer of cold air will likely progress farther up the higher terrain on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. Situations like this can lead to sharp contrasts in the weather conditions over eastern Colorado with communities on the higher terrain near the mountains remaining partly cloudy, breezy and warm with afternoon temperatures in the 50s to lower 60s while low lying areas may experience low clouds and much colder air with temperatures only in the 20s and 30s for much of the day. Although the temperature forecast will be very difficult through mid-week, it does appear that we will avoid any additional snow at lower elevations through Wednesday. There are indications that a deeper layer of colder air will be driven over the area by an upper level wave Wednesday night and Thursday bringing a chance for snow to some areas. The sky should clear on Friday with chilly temperatures mainly in the 30s to lower 40s for the plains. Right now it appears we’ll have a gradual warming trend through next weekend.
