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284 FXUS65 KBOU 150553 AFDBOU Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 1153 PM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Warmer and drier Wednesday. - Locally critical fire weather conditions over the plains Thursday afternoon. - Next system moves in Friday with much colder temperatures and snow for most locations. - Hard freeze likely Friday night and into Saturday morning with lows in the upper teens to mid 20s. && .DISCUSSION /Through Tuesday/... Issued at 1145 PM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026 Satellite and RAP analysis products show today`s shortwave continuing to push eastward, with only a few lingering showers across the plains left on radar. Wednesday should be warmer and drier across the forecast area as weak zonal flow develops behind the departing trough. Mid-level temperatures should warm several degC and forecast highs return to the 60s across most of the plains. A little bit of moisture is expected to linger across the high country leading to a bit more cloud cover there, with mostly sunny skies across the plains. Thursday will likely be the warmest day of the work week this week, with southwesterly flow aloft increasing ahead of our next (stronger) trough axis. Temperatures are expected to warm up into the mid to upper 70s across most of the plains... and combined with low relative humidity values... another day of widespread elevated to critical fire weather conditions will be possible. See the Fire Wx section below for additional details. The focus of the forecast period continues to be Thursday night through Friday night, as a strong trough axis swings across the region. Tonight`s guidance hasn`t changed significantly with the synoptic scale details of this event, with the trough axis quickly pushing across the state during the day Friday. A rather strong cold front looks like it will push into the plains late Thursday night or sometime Friday morning, with 700mb temperatures dropping to as cold as -8 to -11C by Friday afternoon. While the trough is rather quick to move across the region, there would still be a narrow period (