A more active weather pattern expected for the weekend (cold fronts and monsoon moisture)

09/03/25 8am: Morning, we do have at least some weather to talk about for the weekend. Models show a cold-front moving in from the north combining with some deeper monsoon-like moisture moving up from the southwest (maybe some remnants of TS Lorena).

At any rate not looking too crazy but these feature will combine to bring much better afternoon thunderstorm chances to the state on Fri, Sat and Sun (with the wettest days likely Sat and Sun, favoring the mountains).

It will also be much cooler on the front-range Den/Bou on Fri and Sat: highs in the upper 60s / low 70s.

For today northeast CO (including parts of the front-range) will be under light, cold-air advection from the northeast, should keep temps near/below 80 for Den/Bou but will remain dry

A few thunderstorms over extreme southwest CO this afternoon

Moisture starts to move back into western / southern CO tomorrow (Thu). So Thu best chances for some afternoon thunderstorms will be mostly west and south of Vail Pass (or west of Vail to Wolf Creek line) from 2pm-9pm. Rain showers may linger overnight into Fri am

Isolated storms further north for much of the north-central and front-range mountains on Thu after 2pm. Some rain showers may linger overnight into Fri am.

For Den/Bou and the front-range models show a stronger cold-front moving down the front-range between 6pm-9pm on Thu and this may usher in a few thunderstorms (NAM-3km shows this) but the airmass is pretty dry overall, so limited chances (but maybe some early evening storms tomorrow)

Then on Fri the focus for heavier storms will be where the cold-front stall out: over southern CO again.

Generally a better chance for afternoon storms for much of the mountains and parts of the front-range on Fri: 12pm-8pm but best coverage will again be south of I-70 (favoring southwest CO / San Juans)

On Sat and Sun a good chance for afternoon storms in many areas: 2pm-8pm but it will be spotty as usual.

Maybe the best chance for storms overall for Den/Bou and the front-range may come on Sun afternoon 1pm-9pm... But the details are not very clear right now

Frist image loop shows forecast 24hr precip from latest ECMWF (ending 6am each day, shows amounts for that previous day). So it shows 24hr amounts for: Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, take with grain of salt but gives general idea of where heavier rain/thunderstorms may be. Second image shows the cold-front pushing down the front-range at 9pm Thu from latest GFS. Third image shows forecast radar at 9pm Thu from latest NAM-3km model showing a few thunderstorms along the front.