A weak cold front associated with an upper level trough passing to our north will drop across CO Thursday night. Some low clouds and fog are possible up against the foothills Friday morning, mostly below 7500-8500 ft. Temps will be cooler Friday as the surface flow will be from the northeast in the wake of the cold front. Isolated afternoon and evening storms are possible, mostly south of I-70 and along the foothills and Palmer Divide. A second and slightly stronger cold front will reinforce the cooler air on Saturday afternoon/evening. This will cause an increased chance for thunderstorms along the foothills and Palmer Divide on Saturday afternoon/evening, and then bring low clouds and fog along the foothills Saturday night into Sunday morning, and this time up to 9000-10,000 ft. Sunday will be cooler with an easterly flow most of the day, and Denver could finally break their string of 80 degree days. Denver has set a new record this year with 72 consecutive days with the maximum temp above 80 degrees. The previous record was 59 days set in 2002. Denver also experienced the warmest ever August on record this year. Sunday looks mostly dry with only a very slight chance for afternoon/evening storms and temps below seasoanl norms. The good news is that the cooler temps and additional low level moisture should keep fire danger lower this weekend.
Monday will be warmer with temps back up to seasonal norms and mostly dry to finish off the Labor Day weekend. The rest of next week currently looks warm and mostly dry, with temps at or slightly above seasonal norms, and only isolated afternoon and evening storms. Fire danger will be increasing next week with warmer temps and dry conditions.
The North American monsoon is also coming to an end. So far this year, the monsoon has produced below average precipitation across most of the southwest and inter-mountain region. In our foothills, we saw a very wet July, but a drier than average August. Climate models predict we will see a warmer than average Fall with near to slightly below average precipitation.
Additionally, a tropical depression is expected to form along the Louisana Gulf coast tonight or Friday and then meander very slowly along the central Gulf coast. The system is not expected to become a tropical storm but could dump a lot of rain across coastal Gulf states. Models have been irratic in the path of this depression, with some moving it back west along the TX Gulf coast while others move it slightly east and then north. Unfortunately this moisture is not expected to make it's way into drought parched areas of TX and OK. Also, hurricane Katia has formed in the Atlantic east of the Windward Islands and is forecats to move in a northwesterly direction. Katia is currently a category 1 hurricane but is expected to strengthen over the next few days. Long range models keep Katia well of the East Coast just west of Burmuda and recurve the hurricane off the coast of eastern Canada.
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"Climatology is what you expect, Weather is what you get".
"It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong".
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
