Showers & storms return after a warm, dry Wednesday

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Our forecast so far this week has been right on track: we’re warm and mostly dry with showers and thunderstorms mainly over the mountains.

Our Next 24 Hours

This evening will be partly cloudy and warm. We’ll cool slowly through the 90s and into the 80s after 10 PM. Overnight, we’ll be mostly clear. Low temperatures will be near 65 degrees around Grand Junction and 58 degrees around Montrose. Wednesday will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy. Showers and thunderstorms may be a bit more common than they’ve been so far this week, but they’re still likely to be primarily over the mountains. High temperatures will be near 96 degrees around Grand Junction and 92 degrees around Montrose.

Showers & T’Storms Return

Showers and thunderstorms are on track to increase on Thursday afternoon and evening. They’ll start over the mountains and then develop over the lower valleys, including around Grand Junction, more in the evenings. Friday may be more of a mountain-favored day for showers and storms again, and that may be the case on Saturday, too. Still, the environment is more favorable for at least a few showers and storms in the valleys on both Friday and Saturday as compared to the start of this week. Showers and thunderstorms will likely increase again on Sunday and Monday. Monday’s storms may become especially gusty in the afternoon and evening.

Drying After This Weekend

Long-range forecast trends are finally starting to show some shifting. The 6-10 day forecast trends lean toward above-normal rainfall, but the 8-14 day trends are now starting to lean in a drier direction and trending toward below-normal rainfall. We start to see that drying around Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. This could set us up for a warmer-than-normal period when “normal” is already a toasty 93-95 degrees for afternoon highs.