Lakewood, CO 80214 Weather

Key messages

- Another night of fog with visibility below 1/4 mile in the South Platte River Valley and the far eastern plains of Colorado.

- Mild and mostly dry through the work week.

- Unsettled weather potentially returning late in the weekend and early next week. There are many scenarios for how the weather will turn out but snow in the mountains is the most likely impact from this system. One possibility results in the lower elevations seeing their first snowfall of the season.

.DISCUSSION /Through Tuesday/: Issued at 124 PM MDT Tue Oct 27 2026

Current observations show areas of fog over parts of the northeast CO plains. A Dense Fog Advisory is currently in effect for Sedgwick and Phillips counties, where visibilities have dropped below 1/2 mile. The Dense Fog Advisory may have to be extended later tonight as the fog continues to expand west, with patchy fog reaching as far west as Greeley. Subsidence and a patch of mid level clouds should limit fog potential over the Denver metro. We expect fog to diminish by mid morning due to daytime heating, with the South Platte River valley likely clearing last.

Cross-barrier (west-southwest) flow will make Wednesday quite a breezy day, particularly early in the day as mountain wave and downsloping enhancement occurs. Wind gusts up to 35 mph will be possible at the high elevations, with gusts up 55 mph possible above 12,000 ft MSL. Temperatures will run above average for the plains and Denver metro, with highs reaching the upper 60s and low 70s. If an opaque mountain wave cloud is able to persist into the afternoon, as was seen on Monday, temperatures could stay a couple of degrees cooler for areas directly under the cloud cover. Flow aloft weakens and turns southwesterly on Thursday. Winds should remain light due to the weakening pressure gradient, and this should be a sunny fall day with temperatures only slightly above normal for the time of year.

Moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Vance will be advected north into our region on Friday. However, the bulk of the moisture should remain well to our south and east, mainly over the Texas Panhandle and central Plains. We have kept some 15-30% PoPs over the easternmost counties of our CWA, where some light rain seems reasonable late Friday evening. For the rest of our area, an increase in high clouds may be all that transpires as a result of this first plume of moisture.

Moisture remains elevated on Saturday, with precipitable water (PW) values generally between the 75th and 90th percentile of climatology over much of the state. A shortwave trough should bring enough QG ascent for a few sprinkles (15-25% chance) over the eastern CO plains, and rain/snow showers over the mountains (30-50% chance) in the afternoon.

The synoptic pattern becomes more complex on Sunday as an upper level trough and a subtropical jet approach the Four Corners. The subtropical jet is set to channel impressive Pacific moisture to parts of Arizona and New Mexico, akin to an atmospheric river. At this time, the bulk of the moisture plume appears to stay well to our south once again. Southwest flow aloft may still bring anomalous moisture to north-central CO, although this regime would primarily favor downsloping, which is not ideal for meaningful precipitation over the mountains of our CWA or the Denver area. Nevertheless, cloud cover and at least some light rain seems increasingly likely for Sunday, with light snow above 10,000 ft MSL.

A strong cold front is set to bring below average temperatures on Monday, with model guidance suggesting quite a bit of spread in solutions. With lingering moisture over the area, some mountain snow accumulations are becoming increasingly likely during the day on Monday. While a few deterministic and ensemble members do hint at least some dustings or light snow accumulations over the Palmer Divide and parts of the Denver metro, ensemble means suggest temperatures that would not be supportive of snow (40s-50s). This will be a system to watch as snow levels are likely to reach the foothills.

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS through 12Z Thursday/: Issued at 512 AM MDT Wed Oct 28 2026

VFR conditions will prevail for all terminals through the TAF period. Current SW drainage flow at KDEN/KAPA is light, and forecast to remain so (< 8 kts) through 15-16Z, before winds lighten further and become VRB. Expect modest E flow to become established early afternoon, and turn to drainage at KDEN/KAPA mid-evening.

Watches, warnings and advisories

Dense Fog Advisory until 10 AM MDT this morning for COZ048-050- 051.