Video summary
The weather forecast for Longmont beginning Thursday, August 6th, 2026, highlights a period dominated by dry conditions and high heat as a strong ridge of high pressure remains centered over the Four Corners region. This atmospheric setup effectively blocks moisture from reaching Colorado, resulting in very little rainfall across most of the state through Saturday, with precipitation largely confined to isolated areas along I-25 or down near the New Mexico border. While drought conditions are worsening slightly along major highways like I-25 and persisting on the western slopes of Colorado, there is some relief noted nationally in the southwest; however, local water levels remain concerning without significant rain events. The region continues to experience temperatures well above normal, hovering around 89 degrees Fahrenheit early in the week before gradually cooling into the high 80s by Friday and Saturday, with record-breaking highs of 105 degrees still being a possibility given historical data from over a century ago.
As the week progresses toward its conclusion, atmospheric patterns begin to shift slightly, offering hope for relief after two weeks of stagnant weather. By Tuesday and Wednesday, moisture finally starts to rotate into the area as the high-pressure center moves eastward, allowing monsoon winds to pump humidity back into Colorado. This change brings an increased risk of thunderstorms, particularly in the mountains on Tuesday and across the plains by mid-week, marking a departure from the previous dry spell. Although severe weather risks are elevated due to heat and moisture combinations, they do not guarantee hail or extreme excitement every time; instead, these storms provide much-needed precipitation that helps alleviate some drought concerns. The forecast indicates scattered activity through Thursday with significant rainfall expected by Friday as cold fronts finally push down into the region, ending a period where convection was nearly impossible over southern parts of the state on earlier days.
Looking ahead to next weekend and beyond, the weather outlook suggests continued improvement with temperatures returning to normal levels once the stormy system fully establishes itself later in the week. The monthly forecast for August predicts above-normal precipitation specifically for the western half of the state, driven by this renewed monsoon activity that has been absent at the start of the month. While the ridge remains strong over Utah and northern Arizona through Wednesday, keeping conditions dry initially, the eventual eastward shift of weather systems will allow good moisture to settle in, potentially bringing enough rain to push precipitation totals toward or slightly above normal for the remainder of August. Residents can expect a transition from hot, clear skies with minimal cloud cover to a more active pattern featuring afternoon thunderstorms and cooler air masses attempting to move down into eastern Colorado by late next week, finally breaking the streak of dry heat that characterized the first half of the month.
Read the full video transcript
Welcome to the weather forecast for the
week beginning Thursday, August 6th,
2026. This is Chief Meteorologist John
Ensworth for Lmont Public Media in a
whole new location. Yes, my new job and
my new school. Wednesday, August 12th,
new moon, nothing to see.
Uh sun also very inactive, nothing much
to see. Sunrise is now 6:06 a.m. Sunset
8:05 p.m. And over the last two weeks,
because I missed last week with uh new
teacher training um and camping. Uh two
weeks we lost 30 minutes. So you should
really start noticing out there. In
fact, you lose a month, sorry, in the
month of August, you lose an hour of
daylight.
Uh drought is getting a little worse
along I25
south and north but we still have some
drought-free areas in the state. That's
good or and going nationally a lot of
drought relief in the southwest and
that's going to continue. I don't know
what the current status of lake need is
but I know it's not great. So in August
they have forecast for drought remains
but improves or drought removal likely
in the west and that's including the
western slopes of Colorado.
Unfortunately not right here
and smoke of course finally made it from
distant fires into Colorado. So we
enjoyed spring and most of summer with
clear skies. Everything was going over
us and hitting the northeast. But now
we're definitely get loaded up this big
ridge with a lot of smoke. And so
mountains are out there. Trust me, they
have not gone away. For precipitation,
we're hovering along at about 76%. Maybe
that's a tick up from last time, but
there wasn't much rain. It was along
I25, which is good, but it wasn't very
much from Fort Collins down to PBLO.
Some good stuff down in New Mexico
border. Western slopes got skipped.
Okay, looking at the spring and summer
of severe weather climatology going into
July and then the second week of August,
we still are in the elevated risk, but
it's dropping pretty quickly. So, when
we get the moisture, when we have the
heat, it doesn't always result in hail
and excitement. Right now we don't even
have a chance of convection over the
state on Thursday, Friday, southern part
of the state. Saturday, the mountains
and south and east. But uh for Thursday,
we do have a cold front, stationary
front just to our east and monsoon
moisture down south
that tries to get closer, but it just
kind of static pattern. Things are not
changing. This cold front getting
reinforced to the east but not getting
to us. Our normal high temperatures are
dropping now. 89 89 down to 87 60 to 58.
Record high is still the all-time record
high 105
happened a number of times. We've never
seen 106 on the 8th in 1878. Yes, that's
not a typo. It's it's way back. Record
low 44 on the 15th and just 78.
uh increased cloudiness later in the
week. We'll we'll see precipitation
chances increase uh 10th inch third of
an inch 10th quarter 10th with some good
thunderstorm activity around Wednesday
through Friday. So, yay. So, get some
stuff going here. No notable winds. Uh
very dry air over Colorado in the um
water vapor satellite image. You can see
the lightning and thunderstorms down to
the south. Arizona's just going crazy.
Okay, it's put into motion and the big
story is the ridge is back in the west
and the center of the high pressure is
over four corners. So that tends to
shunt the moisture away from us. It just
needs to bob to the east a little bit,
but it's now over Utah, northern
Arizona. We are getting dry air in.
That's all the way into Wednesday now of
the week. The ridge is still there.
Um there's the center still right at the
four corners area by the end of the week
and the ridge is still sitting strong in
the west there. Finally next weekend we
see the low high center jog to the east.
We should see something change.
Looking at temperatures we stay above
normal
or a lot above normal. the blobs to the
south are afternoon thunderstorms
popping up. It just catches this random
formation and it doesn't necessarily
mean that's where thunderstorms are
going to be. So there we are by Tuesday
we're seeing the mountains get some more
thunderstorms. There's some
thunderstorms on the plains for
Wednesday, Thursday on the plains. A
little backdoor cold front there
and thunderstorms kicking off on the
edge of that. normal temperatures by
next weekend and then yeah, you can see
cold air is trying to make it down at
least into the east. So nice.
Oh, look at a little bit of the um
precipitatable water here. Very dry
browns over all of Colorado.
Even New Mexico is getting getting
skipped at the moment. Western Arizona,
Southern California,
Utah, and Nevada. And then the moisture
starts coming in on Tuesday.
I don't know if that uh tropical system
down by the Baja has actually started or
it's randomly generated on the model
here. But by the end of next week, you
can see good moisture is rotating around
as the high goes east and that's when we
really should see stuff return. For due
points, let's go ahead and skip that
today. Save a little bit of time. Let's
just look at the precipitation. So,
we're completely dry here at the
beginning. Almost nothing in the state
at all through Saturday.
We have a low on the eastern plains
going to Sunday. Little bit of stuff
fires in the mountains. Better coverage
in the mountains on Tuesday and some
thunderstorms on the plains Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Thursday, a little more scattered, but
the cold front was coming down. And now
it's really kicking off a lot of
precipitation by Friday.
And then by next weekend, still some
good mountains storms moving off into
the northeast plains by Monday.
And so yeah, by later in the week, we
should see a change. So over the next 5
days, very spotty, very light
precipitation. Over the next 10 days,
this is random, but this is a possible
pattern. And you can see where
thunderstorms form. You can get some
good water.
still bumping around 100 degrees
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we
cooled into the 90s, still above normal
for the end of the weekend, and isn't
until Tuesday, Wednesday, when our
chances of rain really start to go up,
that the temperatures go back down. So,
we're getting Wednesday and beyond more
stormy weather. So, two weeks out, we're
still above normal, says the weather
service. And the monthly outlook for
August is above normal. Broken record
here. Week two, though, moisture is
back. The monsoon is going to be pumping
into Colorado. So that's great. And it's
enough that for the August outlook,
we're on the edge of a little bit above
normal for precipitation for the western
half of the state. This has been chief
meteorologist John Ensworth urging you
to keep looking