Today’s Forecast:
Rain chances are back in southern Colorado today, but some of the storms could become strong to severe in the afternoon.
We'll start with partly cloudy skies and a quick warm up into the 70s and 80s by the lunch hour. Storms will start over the eastern mountains before they head east into the plains and grow stronger.
Storms could become strong along the I-25 corridor from El Paso to Pueblo counties today with dime to nickel-sized hail and strong winds as our two main threats. As storms move east, they have the potential to become severe with isolated instances of quarter-sized hail and wind gusts over 50 mph.
Lightning sparked grass fires will be a concern today, so even if you see rain, please keep an eye out for smoke and call it in if you see it!
Colorado Springs forecast: High: 79; Low: 48. Warm and breezy with storms kicking off around 1 to 2 pm today. Dime to nickel-sized hail with strong wind gusts and lightning are the primary storm threats today, especially northeast around Falcon, Black Forest, and Calhan, but also south near Fort Carson.
Pueblo forecast: High: 86; Low: 49. Hot and breezy with isolated and scattered storms through Pueblo county in the afternoon. If we do see storms hit Pueblo or Pueblo West, small hail, lightning, and gusty winds are the main concerns. Dime to nickel-sized hail would be a little more likely in eastern Pueblo county.
Canon City forecast: High: 83; Low: 53. Hot with isolated storms in the early to mid-afternoon. If we do see storms in Canon City, severe threats are low but small hail and lightning are both possible.
Woodland Park forecast: High: 72; Low: 44. Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible in the early afternoon with lightning and small hail as the two main threats. Severe weather is not expected in Teller county, and any rain would be beneficial for the High Park Fire.
Tri-Lakes forecast: High: 70s; Low: 40s. Scattered storms along the Tri-Lakes area, some of which could be strong in the afternoon, mainly east of I-25. If we did see strong storms in areas like Monument, but especially Woodmoor and Black Forest, dime to nickel-sized hail and lightning are the main threats.
Plains forecast: High: 80s; Low: 50s. Strong thunderstorms are likely today, especially in Kiowa, Bent, Prowers, and Baca counties from the mid to late afternoon. We could see isolated severe storms with lots of lightning, quarter-sized hail and wind gusts over 58 mph.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: High: 80s; Low: 50s. Hot and gusty with a chance for spotty thunderstorms in the afternoon. Severe weather is not very likely but gusty winds, small hail, and lightning are all possible along the southern I-25 corridor.
Mountains forecast: High: 70s; Low: 40s. Scattered storms will form over the eastern mountains today and move east to the plains in the afternoon. We won't see severe weather over the mountains but lightning sparking a fire will be a concern.
Extended outlook forecast:
Thursday will be very hot with high to locally extreme fire danger through the afternoon. Red Flag Warnings are already in place for most of the region tomorrow due to very dry air and strong westerly winds.
Rain and snow are still forecast for Friday night through Saturday, with the bulk of our snow accumulation likely falling Friday night through the first half of Saturday. Snow very well might fall as low as Pueblo's elevation below 5,000 feet, but accumulations are much more likely at and above 6,2000 feet (Colorado Springs elevation and higher).
We'll stay cloudy and below normal from Sunday to the start of next week with a chance for spotty showers Monday.
____
Curious about the First Alert 5 Weather Storm Impact Scale? Check out our cheatsheet explainer.
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
