Tonight's Forecast:
Mountain showers will continue a bit past sunset this evening as a band of upper level energy helps to keep convection going even after we lose the heat from the sun. The best thunderstorm energy stays in the mountains but continued lighter showers with a few rumbles of thunder are possible directly east onto the western edge of the Front Range Corridor.
Partly cloudy skies across most of southern Colorado tonight, with showers dying out around 11 PM.
Lows tonight remain mild - in the 40s to lower 50s, about 10 degrees above average.
Colorado Springs forecast: Low: 47; High: 83;
Isolated showers possible through 10:00PM. Best chance is on the west and north sides of town. Otherwise increasing clouds through about 10:00PM, then clearing skies overnight. Expect gusty breezes if a shower passes close to you on the plains. Rain will evaporate into the air, cooling it. This cold air will then sink down producing wind.
Pueblo forecast: Low: 47; High: 88;
Partly cloudy and mild. A great evening for an outdoor dinner or stroll with your family or friends. West winds at 5-15 mph.
Canon City forecast: Low: 52; High: 85;
Mostly cloudy with brief showers possible through 9:00 PM, then mostly cloudy through midnight, then clearing skies. West winds at 5-15 mph. Very mild tonight.
Woodland Park forecast: Low: 42; High: 74;
Mostly cloudy with a few more showers, and a weak t-storm possible, through 8:00 PM with showers possible through 10 PM. The storm that rolled through around 6:00 PM took a lot of thunderstorm energy out of the atmosphere though - so additional showers should be weaker. Mild with southwest winds at 5-10 mph.
Tri-Lakes forecast: Low: 40s; High: 70s;
Mostly cloudy with a few showers persisting through 9:00 PM. Skies stay mostly cloudy through 11:00 PM then start to clear overnight. South winds through 11 PM then shifting west overnight, at 10-15 mph.
Plains forecast: Low: 40s; High: 80s/90s;
A few high clouds. Breezy - with southeast winds at 15-25 mph.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: Low: 49/48; High: 79/83;
Partly cloudy with west winds at 5-15 mph.
Mountains forecast: Low: 40s; High: 60s/70s;
Showers and thunderstorms remain possible through 9:00 PM, with showers possible through 10:00 PM. Otherwise, mostly cloudy through midnight then decreasing clouds overnight. Freezing heights are very high right now - expect sun crusts to quickly melt in the mornings if you're hiking. Southwest winds at 5-10 mph, shifting west after midnight.
Extended outlook forecast:
Wind and warmth are the story for the first half of the week. Monday and Tuesday bring temperatures to the 80s and lower 90s with plenty of sunshine, and downslope breezes each afternoon. The breezes will be modest on Monday (15-25 mph gusts), and stronger Tuesday particularly south of highway 50. They'll get even stronger Wednesday despite a cool front grazing the region - with afternoon downslope breezes gusting 30-45 mph.
Following the front, highs will fall about 10 degrees on Wednesday which will only bring us closer to seasonal. Normally we'd worry about fire danger in this type of set up, but the scope will be limited here for several reasons. First, we picked up a lot of moisture last week and this has wetted out fire fuels. While one-hour fuels could certainly dry out - hence their name - we're also seeing our spring green-up occurring, where dormant plants come back to life and gain more moisture, making them less susceptible to a day or two of drier air. Climatologically, most years our fire danger risk peaks in April, and ratchets down significantly going through May. So, we're also running into climatology here.
This is not as much the case in the San Luis Valley, which still contains plenty of dormant plants that can easily dry out.
Some moisture returns to the sky Thursday as a low tracks north of the state. It looks too far north to be a player for us - though the Palmer Divide could easily get a shower from it. Another system then approaches for next weekend. At the moment timing favors Saturday and Sunday afternoons for a return of PM T-Storm chances in the hills. But, only Sunday on the plains.
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Curious about the First Alert 5 Weather Storm Impact Scale? Check out our cheatsheet explainer.
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