


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
Issued by NWS Cheyenne, WY
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634 FXUS65 KCYS 132338 AFDCYS Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Cheyenne WY 538 PM MDT Wed Aug 13 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Hot temperatures and critical fire weather conditions are expected Wednesday and Thursday. - Isolated to widely scattered PM showers and thunderstorms will return for Thursday onward. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY/... Issued at 306 PM MDT Wed Aug 13 2025 A surface trough is going to push through Southeast Wyoming this evening to produce some storms in the Northern half of the forecast area. Looking at mid level water vapor there is some moisture dropping southeast through the northern counties of Southeast Wyoming and the northern portion of the Nebraska panhandle. There is a vort max that will skirt the South Dakota and Nebraska border coupled with some weak warm air advection. This area of the Northern panhandle makes it most favorable for storm development or create the most favorable environment for thunderstorms. Some of the hi-res guidance has the trough moving more north into South Dakota while other guidance keeps this feature along the border. So I kept pops low to represent this uncertainty. SPC mesoanalysis also has about 500 CAPE with 30 knots of shear. With that low of CAPE it is unlikely that any thunderstorm tapping into this energy pool will become severe however a gusty shower cannot be ruled out. Thursday, An upper level shortwave will be responsible for more of the scattered showers and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening. Moisture looks to retreat back westward to the Laramie range in the late morning to early afternoon. As this wave lifts through our region storm motion looks to follow to the northeast. CAPE and shear look to remain minimal so severity looks uncertain. SPC has kept our area in general thunder for tomorrow with a Marginal risk further east. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 306 PM MDT Wed Aug 13 2025 An upper level ridge pushes off to the east at the start of the long term with westerly flow aloft becoming southwesterly and moisture advection pushing in at lower levels for Saturday and Sunday. This will increase the threat of afternoon thunderstorm activity as a pulse of energy pushes through along with rain chances hitting the ground on the aforementioned days primarily across our northern counties, from Niobrara into Box Butte. Drier air will hold firm across the western zones limiting any thunderstorm and precipitation chances. There remains some uncertainty to how much rain will actually reach the ground due to the fact that dry air has been in place for a while. This combined with the thunderstorm activity may bring the chances of dry lighting, creating some concerns regarding fire weather. Late Sunday into at least mid-week, the ridge that pushed off to the east early in the long term will retrograde to the Four- Corners region, bringing back westerly flow aloft. All the global ensembles show a ridge building in next week, there is some disagreement as to the amplification of the ridge and how warm we will get. This mainly has to do with a low pressure system moving into the Pacific Northwest which may impact how amplified the ridge will be over us which will be monitored going forward. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 534 PM MDT Wed Aug 13 2025 Westerly flow aloft will prevail. Wyoming TAFS...Scattered clouds near 12000 feet will occur, with occasional thunderstorms at Rawlins until 02Z, producing wind gusts to 45 knots and ceilings near 8000 feet. Outside of thunderstorms, winds will gust to 30 knots at all terminals until 02Z, and to 25 knots after 15Z Thursday. Nebraska TAFS...Skies will be mostly clear, with scattered clouds from 10000 to 12000 feet at Chadron and Alliance until 15Z Thursday. Thunderstorms will be in the vicinity of Chadron until 03Z. Winds will gust to 25 knots at Sidney until 06Z. && .CYS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WY...Red Flag Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for WYZ418>422- 424-425-427>429. NE...None. && $$ SHORT TERM...MM LONG TERM...RZ AVIATION...RUBIN