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605 FXUS65 KBOU 291920 AFDBOU Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 120 PM MDT Wed Apr 29 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms continue through this evening. - Highest coverage of showers and beneficial precipitation shaping up for the Front Range Thursday - Thursday night. - Warmer and drier conditions expected for the weekend. - Chance of showers returns early next week, with potential (50-60% chance) of more meaningful precipitation toward late Tuesday or Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION /Through Wednesday/... Issued at 119 PM MDT Wed Apr 29 2026 Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms have developed across the forecast area with sufficient daytime heating and destabilization. They are currently tracking eastward, with the highest coverage shaping up for the eastern plains where MLCAPE was near 200-400 J/kg. Generally lighter showers were occurring behind that for the I-25 Urban Corridor and mountains. The showers are expected to gradually focus near the Palmer Divide and east central Colorado this evening and overnight where the best F-gen lift occurs tonight, with a slight decrease elsewhere. However, we expect some redevelopment late tonight and Thursday morning closer to the Front Range as a weak upslope flow develops. As stated yesterday, that`s where the uncertainty enters the picture. Ingredients are favorable for precipitation Thursday - Thursday night with weak Q-G lift noted and nearly moist adiabatic lapse rates. However, it`s the amount of upslope that`s very weak and that is likely why we`re seeing so much run to run and model to model differences in the amount of QPF being generated. Therefore, we still have a lot of uncertainty regarding precipitation amounts and we`ll be somewhat conservative by leaning toward the lower end of guidance especially east and north of Denver. The mountains, foothills, and Palmer Divide should still see the higher QPF totals, with some locations seeing an inch or more. For Denver, we could see amounts as low as a couple tenths, or as high as 1.0 inch but again favoring the lower half of those amounts (0.2-0.6 in the deterministic forecast with the heavier amounts on the western and southern side of the metro). Fort Collins, Greeley, and the northeast plains will likely struggle to see much in the way of beneficial precipitation (