Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
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675 FXUS65 KCYS 122319 AFDCYS Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cheyenne WY 419 PM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Warming trend continues through Thursday with temperatures increasing a few degrees each day. Dry conditions will continue through the end of the week. - A trough will move into the area later this weekend with chances for precipitation and cooler temperatures. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... Issued at 300 PM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 Conditions remain dry and warm in the short term under high pressure ridging. For tonight, a cloud bank will move into the region and help insulate our temperatures, with overnight lows in the 30`s to mid 40`s outside of the mountains. Then on Thursday, expect the warning to continue, as we see well above normal highs in the 60`s to mid 70`s as the ridge continues to transition overhead. A quick shortwave will move into the region by Friday from a larger system to the north in Canada, and the tightening pressure gradients alongside a weak mid level jet should bring gusty conditions to our wind prone locations. Currently the bulk of the 700mb winds look to remain around 45 knots or so, and in-house guidance is indicating we`ll approach high wind criteria but not quite hit it. Therefore much like the previous update, will continue to not advertise headlines for high winds late Thursday into Friday, but will continue to monitor the latest guidance. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 300 PM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 Unseasonably warm temperatures will continue into Friday as strong ridging aloft remains in place over the area. With warm air advection peaking ahead of a weak Pacific trough passing to our north, we should see the warmest temperatures of the week on Friday supported by 700-mb temperatures around +5 to +7C. Look for widespread highs some 15 to 20F above average for this time of year in the 60s to as high as the mid to upper 70s in the Nebraska panhandle. Daily record highs are currently forecast for Sidney and Alliance, while most other locations are within a few degrees of the daily records. In addition to the warmth, expect winds to return to the wind prone areas as the pressure gradient tightens ahead of the next system. 700-mb height gradients are un-impressive and surface pressure gradients are marginally supportive of high winds. In-house guidance is showing probabilities around 40% for high winds during the Friday morning period. Due to the marginal support, the official forecast does not yet reach high wind criteria, but the winds were still increased above NBM guidance since at least some gusts of 50 to 55 mph appear likely. Ensemble guidance has coalesced around the split trough solution for this weekend`s pattern change. The northern branch trough will pass to our north Saturday, but models have trended further north with this, such that it may not even be much of a cold front. High temperatures are forecast to drop perhaps 5 to 10F off of Friday`s values for Saturday, but this will still be 10 to 15F above climatological normals. Conditions will remain breezy to windy, but the direction should change from Friday`s southwest to west or northwest on Saturday. Precipitation will be quite limited with this first trough, if anything falls at all. Low end PoPs are retained in the mountains, but moisture and forcing are expected to remain well to our north. The second piece of this split trough will be a powerful closed low left over the California coast this weekend. This will approach the area Sunday into Monday as the upper level low ejects across the Rockies. Winds will ease Sunday ahead of the system, but expect highs to remain about 10F above average for this time of year. Since this will be a closed low underneath a fairly strong ridge, it will be running into a very warm airmass and will not have access to any cold air from the north. Therefore, once precipitation begins, we may have unusually high snow-levels in place for this time of year, possibly beginning as high as 10 kft. While the probability of a significant precipitation event remains low, ensembles are converging on a light to moderate precipitation event for much of the area. Probabilities for 0.1" or more or liquid precipitation in the Sunday through Monday period have increased to about 40 to 60% over the High Plains, and 60 to 80% along and west of the Laramie Range. Due to the high snow levels, the probabilities for one inch or more of snow are quite a bit lower, around 5 to 20% for Wyoming population centers and 10% or less in Nebraska. Still, it is very difficult to bet on an all rain event in November, so the official forecast was tweaked to bring a mention of rain/snow mix to all areas above 5500 ft in elevation. While the probability of accumulation is not very high, 700-mb temperatures look marginally supportive of at least some snowflakes mixing in. The average snow level through the event appears to be around 8000 ft in the current ensemble suite, so we anticipate some modest accumulating snow to fall in the mountains. Current probabilities suggest a 50 to 70% chance for advisory criteria snow totals in the Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges, and a 20 to 40% chance for warning criteria amounts, mainly only for the highest peaks. This system appears likely to break the warm and dry weather pattern, ushering in a much more active pattern with a train of Pacific upper level lows possible through much of next week. The details of this pattern remain highly uncertain, but expect to find more seasonable temperatures and more regular chances for rain and snow heading into the last third of November. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 418 PM MST Wed Nov 12 2025 VFR conditions expected for the forecast period. Look for light and occasionally variable winds overnight as some mid to upper level cloud cover drifts through. Westerly winds will become gusty mid to late Thursday morning, mainly in Wyoming. && .CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WY...None. NE...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...CG LONG TERM...MN AVIATION...MN