Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Raymer (New Raymer), CO

DISCUSSION /Through Wednesday/
Issued at 219 PM MDT Wed Mar 18 2026

A look at the 500 mb pattern is more reminiscent of June than March! A 596-597dm high over the Desert Southwest will dominate our weather through Saturday. To be clear, an upper level high of this magnitude has never been recorded so early in the season, and in fact is nearly 7 dm higher than the ERA5 (analysis since 1951)
monthly max. What does than mean for us?

Record heat! We'll stay in light westerly downslope flow through Thursday and Friday, meaning shallow inversions to start the day and quick/full warmups aided by mostly sunny skies. 700 mb temps warm from near +10C today to almost +15C by Saturday. In addition, Saturday will likely have a stronger downslope component as the ridge starts to flatten and downslope winds strengthen. Thus, Thursday and Friday will likely see record (and close to monthly record highs), while Saturday will almost certainly achieve the monthly record for many locations.

Current records and forecast DAILY high temperatures for Denver (DIA):

Thursday, March 19: 81 (1907) / Forecast High: 83 Friday, March 20: 80 (1907) / Forecast High: 84 Saturday, March 21: 78 (1995) / Forecast High: 87

Existing MONTHLY record temperatures for March and max forecasts through Saturday:

Denver: 83 (1971) / Forecast Max 87 Fort Collins: 81 (2012) / Forecast Max 88 Boulder: 83 (1910) / Forecast Max 87 Greeley: 85 (2010) / Forecast Max 89 Fort Morgan: 85 (2010) / Forecast Max 90 Julesburg: 88 (1967) / Forecast Max 90 Estes Park: 70 (1925) / Forecast Max 74 Dillon: 63 (2012) / Forecast Max 68

Per above, at this point it looks like we will smash monthly records by 4-5 degrees, barring any significant increase in high clouds. So far, those clouds don't look to come in until Saturday night with the next glancing shortwave.

That Northern Rockies/Plains shortwave will push a cold front across northeast Colorado Saturday night. However, cooling associated with that feature will only be modest with high temperatures only settling back closer to normal for Sunday. Mid level moisture is still expected to increase, briefly easing fire weather conditions and bringing just a chance of light showers - mainly to mountain areas.

Dry weather will return for Monday through Wednesday of next week as the upper level ridge quickly rebuilds over the southwest U.S.
While slightly less intense than the current ridge, a return of record warmth with high temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s is likely (>60% chance) as we head into Tuesday and Wednesday.
With modest westerly breezes, fire weather conditions will likely ramp up again...see Fire Weather Discussion below.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday/
Issued at 543 PM MDT Wed Mar 18 2026

VFR to persist through the TAF period. The gusty NW winds have returned again this afternoon across the Denver TAF sites. Should see them decrease around sunset and gradually turn towards drainage through the evening.

Thursday will be a similar story to today, with drainage winds gradually turning west to NW in the late morning/early afternoon.
Could see gusts between 20-25 kts mix down after the 20-22Z time frame and continue through sunset, though guidance has been mixed, so confidence is low at this time.

FIRE WEATHER
Issued at 219 PM MDT Wed Mar 18 2026

Current (Wednesday afternoon) critical fire weather conditions with humidity down to 8-10% and winds gusting to 25-35 mph across the plains will ease with the loss of daytime heating and mixing.
That will allow winds to diminish with only modest humidity recovery at best overnight.

Record warmth and dryness will remain Thursday and Friday.
Fortunately winds on both days will be lighter, but enough wind along the Wyoming border to warrant an upgrade to Red Flag Warning for northern Weld and northern Larimer Counties for Thursday.

More widespread critical conditions will be likely by Saturday as flow aloft strengthens in conjunction with monthly record highs and an extremely dry airmass. In fact, we'll likely see humidity readings down to 5-7% across most of the plains, and 8-12% over the foothills, while wind gusts are forecast to increase to 25-35 mph. Critical conditions will even be possible in the high mountain valleys where fuels were recently deemed critical because of the early snow melt-out. It's also noteworthy humidity recovery overnight will be poor in/near the foothills, and only moderate at best elsewhere.

While a brief respite occurs with some cooling and moistening Sunday, it will stay breezy. Temperatures will then turn much warmer again Tuesday into Wednesday with critical fire weather conditions possible once again.

BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
Red Flag Warning until 7 PM MDT this evening for COZ238>240- 242>245-248>251.

Red Flag Warning from 11 AM to 7 PM MDT Thursday for COZ238-242.