35-MPH Winds Ahead: Western Colorado Shift Before Labor Day

September is wasting no time reminding us that Western Colorado weather doesn't believe in easing into anything.

We'll have a couple of drier, windier days to get through first, with gusts reaching 25 to 35 mph Thursday and Friday. Then the moisture starts coming back just in time for Labor Day weekend.

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Wind Takes Over Thursday and Friday

According to the National Weather Service, a strengthening pressure gradient and stronger winds several thousand feet up will make Thursday and Friday pretty breezy across much of the region.

Most areas could see afternoon gusts around 25 to 35 mph. Drier air moving in will also keep rain chances fairly low, although a few isolated showers and thunderstorms could still pop up over the higher terrain.

Don't expect much from them. The wind is the bigger story.

The Moisture Returns This Weekend

Things get more interesting Saturday as southwest flow starts pulling moisture back into the region.

Showers and thunderstorms should increase each day through the holiday weekend, with Sunday and Monday currently looking like the wettest days. A few disturbances rotating around a low-pressure system in the Pacific Northwest could provide some extra lift and help storms develop.

And there's a lot of moisture available. Forecast precipitable water values could climb to more than twice normal.

Heavy Rain Could Become a Problem

That's good news if you've been begging for rain. It's less good news when the ground is already saturated in places.

If storms develop over the right spot and dump heavy rain, flash flooding and debris flows could become concerns, especially across vulnerable terrain and recent burn scars.

How much rain actually falls will depend partly on whether enough clouds clear out to allow instability to build. Weather models are also starting to disagree about how long the moisture sticks around, so the details are still fuzzy.

Cooler for Labor Day

One thing looks fairly consistent: temperatures should be near-normal to below-normal through the wetter part of the weekend and into early next week.

Clouds and rain will help keep the heat down.

So we're trading 30-mph winds for monsoonal thunderstorms. Welcome to September in Western Colorado.

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Filed Under: Colorado Weather