FXUS65 KPUB 191945 AFDPUB Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 145 PM MDT Tue May 19 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Cooler and wetter weather continues tonight and Wednesday with a few inches of snow across the mountains, particularly north of highway 50. - Strong to severe thunderstorms possible Thursday across most of the southeast plains. - Gradual warming and drying over the weekend but active weather returns next week with the approach of another western U.S. upper low. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 141 PM MDT Tue May 19 2026 Cooler temperatures and higher humidity have brought a much needed reprieve to the windy and dry conditions of late across the southeast plains today. Meanwhile, gusty southwest winds have returned to the mountains and San Luis Valley where winds have been gusting up to 45 mph at times. Another round of showers and thunderstorms will develop over the mountains and adjacent plains late this afternoon and evening. Best convective potential will be across the mountains where better surface heating has been occuring. Across the plains, a strong cap will remain in place though as the Great Basin upper trough translates eastward overnight, broad overrunning will combine with shallow easterly upslope flow to produce another round of stratiform rain and snow across the southeast mountains and adjacent plains. Heavier precipitation amounts will favor locations along and north of highway 50. Snow levels will be higher tonight than last night but some light snow accumulations will be possible above roughly 8500 feet. Otherwise, another cloudy night with increasing dew points in southeast surface flow should keep low temperatures above freezing for the southeast plains. Wednesday will start out cloudy and showery for the northern mountains and adjacent plains. This will be followed by partial clearing then another round of afternoon showers and thunderstorms developing across the mountains, and spreading into the southeast plains Wednesday evening as forcing from the upper trough glances by to the north. Best thunderstorm chances will be across the southeast mountains and adjacent plains where CAPE of up to 750 J/kg will be in place. The southeast plains look capped initially but could see some broad overrunning precipitation Wednesday night as a southerly low level jet sets up to the east. Showers should pull eastward into KS towards morning. Overall, temperatures will remain cool with highs in the 60s to around 70 across the lower elevations and a mix of 40s and 50s for the mountains, with cooler readings above timberline. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... Issued at 141 PM MDT Tue May 19 2026 Thunderstorm chances increase for Thursday with a better chance for strong to severe thunderstorms across the southeast plains in the afternoon and evening. Next upper trough will be dropping southward through the northern U.S. Rockies and swinging by to the north Thursday night. This forcing, along with better surface heating, continued low level moisture advection in southerly return flow, and decent deep layers shears, should trigger a round of scattered thunderstorms, some potentially severe, across the southeast plains. Models push a dry line northeastward off the Raton Mesa with easterly low level flow putting a ribbon of 1500+ J/kg of CAPE along the northern I-25 corridor counties of Pueblo and El Paso counties, eastward across portions of the southeast plains. Hodographs show some decent curvature, especially where surface winds are more easterly, and with deep layer shears around 40 kts, large hail, damaging winds and even an isolated tornado will be possible. There is still a bit of a cap farther east near KLAA in the afternoon, though a low level jet and cooling aloft with the incoming upper trough steepen lapse rates aloft Thursday night suggesting convective maintenance into the overnight across the eastern CO/western KS. Main severe risk would be in the afternoon and evening, especially for the I-25 corridor, but there is a fair chance of rain (50-70%) across much of the southeast plains. Western areas, by contrast, will remain dry and breezy. Temperatures warm around 5 degrees over those of Thursday. Cold front drops southward into the plains on Friday behind the departing upper wave. Some minor cooling and another round of showers and thunderstorms can be expected for the southeast mountains and plains. Best CAPE will likely be to the south of CO or near our southern border along the frontal boundary. It remains an active pattern into next week with some minor ridging into Sunday leading to a gradual warming trend through the weekend. Enough moisture will be present for isolated to scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. The driest day looks to be Sunday. Troughing returns out west for Monday and Tuesday with southerly flow aloft across CO bringing return moisture and increasing chances for showers and thunderstorms to the mountains. -KT && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 1114 AM MDT Tue May 19 2026 MVFR to VFR cigs will persist for KCOS and KPUB into the evening before another round of showers pushes off the mountains during the evening dropping cigs back into the MVFR category for both terminals with -SHRA. Cigs/vis will likely drop into the IFR category after 06z at KCOS as southeast upslope winds continue. Cigs will continue into the morning hours before lifting during the late morning and afternoon. Winds will be predominantly southeast to easterly through the period. KALS will stay VFR through today with gusty southwest winds this afternoon. -SHRA may enter the terminal after 00z with VCSH possible into the overnight hours. Cigs will remain VFR but winds will lighten up towards 06z. Winds tomorrow will increase again out of the southwest and gust up to 30 kts in the afternoon. -KT && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...KT LONG TERM...KT AVIATION...KT