Today’s Forecast:
Wind and fire danger are the big forecast stories today for southern Colorado. We also have dense fog in place across the eastern plains.
Dense fog advisories from Crowley, Otero, Kiowa, Bent, and Prowers counties will remain in effect until 9 am this morning.
West and northwest winds will blow over the mountains and into the plains today with the strongest gusts occurring from the morning through the mid-afternoon. We'll see wind gusts generally in the 30 to 55 mph range at their strongest, but a few 60 mph gusts near the mountains will be possible.
Grass fires will be the primary concern today with areas of blowing dust and low visibility on the eastern plains.
Colorado Springs forecast: High: 51; Low: 18. Stage one burn restrictions are now in place for El Paso County. Fire danger is high today with wind gusts in the 30 to 50 mph range with the highest gusts on the west and far north sides of town. Temperatures will warm to the low 50s thanks to downslope flow, and we'll be sunny for most of the day.
Pueblo forecast: High: 57; Low: 14. Mostly sunny and warm with high fire danger in the afternoon. Wind gusts will be in the 40 to 50 mph range at their highest today with plenty of blowing dust through the afternoon. Temperatures will be mild with highs in the upper 50s.
Canon City forecast: High: 50; Low: 20. Mostly sunny and warm with strong winds and high fire danger. Wind gusts will be in the 30 to 45 mph range.
Woodland Park forecast: High: 38; Low: 16. Partly cloudy and cold with wind gusts in the 40 to 50 mph range at their strongest. We'll see the windiest conditions from the morning through the early afternoon.
Tri-Lakes forecast: High: 40s; Low: 10s. Mostly sunny and windy today with high fire danger. Wind gusts will be in the 30 to 45 mph range today.
Plains forecast: High: 50s; Low: 10s. Sunny and windy with high daytime fire danger. Wind gusts will be in the 20 to 40 mph range with lots of blowing dust and low visibility.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: High: 50s; Low: 10s. Mostly sunny and windy with high fire danger and strong wind gusts. We'll see max gusts in the 30 to 55 mph range, especially on the west side of I-25 near the mountains.
Mountains forecast: High: 40s; Low: 20s. Partly cloudy and really windy today with wind gusts in the 40 to 55 mph range. Fire danger isn't really high in the mountains from recent snows, but the wind will make it extra chilly. Heavier continental divide snow over the last few days likely has a lot of westerly mountain commutes slick and snowy.
Extended outlook forecast:
We'll stay chilly and breezy through the weekend, but Sunday will be warmer thanks to gusty downslope flow. We could see fire danger and red flag warnings return Sunday.
Next week will be very cold with a few chances of snow locally on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of the snow next week will be out in the mountains or north around Denver.
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Curious about the First Alert 5 Weather Storm Impact Scale? Check out our cheatsheet explainer.
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