This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Forecast Discussion:
There isn't much happening this week except for the arrival of a stout, but dry, cold front on Monday. When it has passed, we warm back up to near 90°F. That is the week in a nutshell. But for some specifics:
Figure 1 shows the trough to our west that will cool us down to the 70's F on Tuesday. It is also bringing in clean air from the southwest for a day (more later on that). This afternoon, the front is just passing Longmont with some gusty north, then northeast winds - Figure 2. By tomorrow (Tuesday) AM, the front is in the southern counties of the state and we are windy and, relatively, chilly (Figure 3). There is a SMALL chance of showers Tuesday afternoon and evening behind the front, but I'm not excited about them.
By Wednesday AM, the trough is fading out to the east and the ridge is growing again in the West (Figure 4). We climb to the upper 80'sF on Wednesday and top 90° F on Thursday.
As for smoke, Figure 5 shows the early Monday AM lack of smoke around Longmont, which is replaced by a (relatively thin) ribbon of smoke passing just to our north (Figure 6). It won't be choking thick here, but it will go back to being hazy.
The longer range forecast:
We return to the 90's F into the weekend and stay mostly dry. Eventually we'll have some fun weather to discuss, be patient. We are only a couple of weeks from the earliest recorded measurable snow at DIA and about 2 months away from the average first snow.
