Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Brighton, CO

DISCUSSION /Through Friday/
Issued at 1121 PM MST Fri Feb 27 2026

We have one more day of really dry conditions with areas of critical fire weather conditions before we get a reprieve. RHs will bottom out in the single digits and low teens across the plains on Saturday. Winds are expected to be a bit weaker on Saturday than what we saw on Friday for much of the area, with the stronger winds staying near the WY/CO border and much weaker winds in the urban corridor (potentially even a weak east wind thanks to an anticyclonic circulation). A weak front will push in from the northeast late Saturday into early Sunday. Breezy NE/E winds are expected along and behind the front overnight, with gusts around 20 to 35 mph across the eastern half of our forecast area. By Sunday morning winds will be more SSE, remaining breezy for the eastern half of the area. For areas further west on the plains models are hinting at a Denver cyclone developing, giving areas around the urban corridor light and variable winds throughout the day.

Over the next week, we're looking at the potential for three separate precipitation events for the mountains and two for the plains. The first will start late Saturday, continuing into late Sunday/early Monday. Moisture will stream into the mountains at mid and upper levels Saturday into Sunday. This combined with weak QG ascent, orographics, and maybe some weak lift from the right exit of the jet will produce light snow showers late this weekend. Snow should primarily be confined to the northern mountains, with most likely snow totals between 1 and 6 inches at the higher elevations.
It is worth noting, that it will be warm and snow levels will be around 9000ft in the afternoon. Which means areas below 9000ft in the mountains could see a rain snow mix or even just light rain on Sunday.

The second event will start sometime late Monday for the mountains/ early Tuesday for the plains, ending late Tuesday into early Wednesday. An upper level low will form off the West Coast late this weekend. This low will move towards Colorado for the first few days of the week, moving over the area Tuesday afternoon. Ahead of this low, we'll see strong QG lift and PWATs increasing to 200+ percent of normal for both the mountains and plains. Looking at model soundings, they're showing a saturated column with decent lapse rates, so there is potential for some pockets of heavier snow/rain. In the mountains we're looking at most likely snow totals around 3 to 11 inches for the Front Range and Park Range.
In the I-25 corridor and plains, conditions look too warm for snow accumulation. But, there is a low chance (<25%) that areas near the Palmer could see some light snow with this event. Models are still bouncing around on precip amounts, but currently we're sitting at a ~30% chance that the urban corridor sees at least a quarter inch of precip.

The third event will be in the Thursday to Saturday time period.
This one holds the most uncertainty for the week. Models are changing constantly on what the upper level pattern will look like for this event, ranging anywhere from a decent shortwave moving across the area to a full blown closed low sitting off to our southwest for days. In most model runs and ensemble members, our area sees some precip, but the amounts and timing vary pretty significant depending on the evolution of the upper trough/low.
Right now, it looks like a decent snow event for the mountains, with the potential for some rain and snow across the plains as well.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS through 12Z Sunday/
Issued at 437 AM MST Sat Feb 28 2026

VFR conditions expected through the TAF period. Winds will be westerly or west-southwesterly during the morning hours today with mostly light winds. The exception is a mountain wave that is over BJC with gusts up to 40 knots. This mountain wave may continue until 16Z, although winds are expected to weaken, and then much lighter winds will develop afterwards. Light northeasterly winds will likely develop in the afternoon. A backdoor cold front will move across the area Saturday evening shifting winds to the east with gusts potentially up to 22 knots.
A Denver cyclone will develop overnight Saturday night with north winds at BJC and southeast or southwest winds at DEN and APA. This cyclone will likely result in DEN and BJC having light northerly winds much of Sunday morning.

FIRE WEATHER
Issued at 1121 PM MST Fri Feb 27 2026

RHs will drop into the single digits to low teens across much of the plains again on Saturday. However, the breezy winds will be more confined to our northern counties, limiting fire weather potential for much of the plains. Areas along the WY/CO border could see wind gusts around 25 to 40mph in the late morning to early afternoon, leading us to put out an RFW for zones 238, 242, and 248 for Saturday. A weak front will bring a wind shift from the E/NE late Saturday into Sunday. Behind the front, we'll see an increase in RH, bringing us above critical thresholds for Sunday.

BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
Red Flag Warning from 10 AM this morning to 6 PM MST this evening for COZ238-242-248.