wxgeek's weather-Weather Outlook June 9-17

wxgeek's weather-Weather Outlook June 9-17

Fog and low clouds developed over the Plains and up along the foothills in the wake of yesterday's cold front passage. Isolated showers and thunderstorms will develop again this afternoon and evening, with majority of activity again north of I-70. Dry lightning strikes will continue to be a concern as fire danger remains quite high.

Friday will be warmer with isolated afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms, but activity should be south of I-70. As another weak upper trough moves east from the West Coast over the weekend, this will make upper flow more favorable to bring smoke from the massive Wallow fire in AZ back over CO, including our foothills. This fire is now approaching 400,000 acres and still with 0% containment. Saturday should also present the best chances for precipitation along the foothills. The weak upper level disturbance will enhance shower and thunderstorm chances for a large portion of CO from the Divide east in the afternoon and evening hours, and activity could extend until about midnight, especially over the Plains. Sunday then looks to be warm and mostly dry with only very isolated shower and thunderstorm activity in the afternoon and evening hours.

Next week currently looks to remain quite warm and dry across most of CO as upper ridge builds back over the southern Plains. Hence, fire danger will remain quite high across most of CO, but especially the southeast area where only very limited precipitation has fallen all year. A summer weather pattern is well established across the US and is already bringing very warm temps across a large section of the eastern US. This is happening without what I would consider a very warm upper level pattern, so things could get much worse later this summer when a more significant upper ridge is in place. This is in contrast to the West Coast where temps have been 10-15 degres below monthly averages and precip at two to three times normal due to a large and presistent upper level trough. In CO we have been between the upper ridge and trough, so have been on the warm side of seasonal norms for temps, but dry so far in June. The latest season prediction from the Climet Prediction Center call for above aferage temps from June through August, and near normal precipitation.