Front Range Situation Report | 08.20.2025
Your Weekly Forward-Looking Intelligence Brief from The CP Journal's Watch Office
The convergence of threats rarely shows up on a dashboard. Here’s why human judgment remains the decisive factor in acting on situation reports.
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Here are the highlights of the week ahead. Scroll down for a deeper analysis and the sources of information. Remember: this report is intended for situational awareness, and readers should validate any information before acting.
⛈️Weather: An early-week heatwave will give way to an unsettled, wetter pattern by the weekend. Expect hot and dry conditions through Thursday (near-record heat in spots), followed by a sharp transition to cooler temperatures and daily rounds of thunderstorms Friday through Monday. Main hazards will be localized flash flooding from heavy downpours later in the week. No high-wind or winter weather threats are expected. And take a read below about the anniversary of the summertime hurricane snow event in the Rockies (you read that right).
🐂Safety & Security: The safety and security risk across the Front Range is Low-to-Moderate this week. Planned protest activity is limited to primarily recurring small-scale events occurring (though this is how we would have characterized the Boulder event attacked on June 1st), planned events are relatively small, and no significant events to note in this week’s report. Barring any unexpected incidents, a normal readiness posture feels appropriate at the time of writing.
🦟Health & Medical: The Front Range faces a mixed public health outlook this week. End-of-summer disease activity is notable: COVID-19 infections are on a slow rise, a measles outbreak is ongoing, and West Nile virus poses seasonal risks. Environmental health conditions are moderate but require vigilance – ozone pollution and some wildfire smoke are affecting air quality. Yet, no acute public health emergencies are active, and healthcare systems are functioning normally. This week also notes the anniversary of the first WNV case in the U.S. in 1999 (more details below).
☎️Cybersecurity: The cyber risk for the Front Range region remains moderate, with no new local incidents in the past week. Nationwide, a high volume of attacks (ransomware, state-sponsored espionage, and data breaches) continues to target U.S. government agencies and businesses. The current risk level is unchanged from last week (→), reflecting a cautious stance: conditions are calm locally now, but an uptick could occur with little warning given the active threat landscape.
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In-Depth Analysis
Weather | Risk Level: Elevated & ↑
🔥Significant Events
Disaster Declaration: Governor Polis declared a statewide disaster this week in response to the fires on the Western Slope, authorizing mobilization of the National Guard and adding funds to the Wildfire Emergency Response Fund.
⛈️Official 7‑Day Outlook
Here are your detailed forecasts: Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins
Mid-Week Heat: Wednesday and Thursday will be sunny and hot across the Front Range. High temperatures are forecast in the mid to upper 90s°F on the plains (e.g. Denver 98°F on Thu) with only isolated afternoon storm chances. Mountain areas and Colorado Springs will be a bit cooler (upper 80s to low 90s) with similarly low rain chances. Overnight lows will be in the upper 50s to mid 60s°F under mostly clear skies.
Late-Week Storms: A pattern change begins Friday as a cold front moves in, bringing cooler temperatures (daytime highs falling into the 80s°F by Fri–Sat) and a surge of moisture. Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are likely each afternoon Friday through the weekend (60–70% probability) across the region. Locally heavy rainfall is possible with these slow-moving storms, especially over the urban corridor and foothills.
Early Next Week: The unsettled pattern persists into next week. Widespread rain and thunderstorms are expected Sunday and Monday with highs only in the upper 70s to around 80°F. Periods of moderate to heavy rain may continue, maintaining a risk of localized flooding in prone areas. By Tuesday, showers should begin to diminish, but afternoon storm chances may still linger at ~20–30% coverage.
🙈Watches & Warnings
Hazardous Weather Outlook: There are no active NWS watches or warnings as of Tuesday morning.
Fire Weather: Recent rainfall and incoming moisture have kept fire danger low to moderate in the Front Range. No Red Flag Warnings are in effect. Note that extreme wildfire conditions do persist in western Colorado under drought, but the Front Range counties remain drought-free and out of critical fire weather criteria at this time.
😎Looking Ahead
Cooler, Wetter End to August: Long-range outlooks from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center indicate a notable pattern shift late in August. For the week of Aug 26 – Sep 1, Colorado is favored to be cooler than normal and wetter than normal. This aligns with the expected front and monsoonal surge, suggesting below-average temperatures and continued elevated precipitation chances heading into early September.
⛷️Anniversaries
Hurricane Lester Snow: Tropical storms aren’t just for the coasts. In late August 1992, the remnants of Eastern Pacific Hurricane Lester brought an early taste of winter to the Rockies. As Lester’s moisture moved inland, it dropped up to 4 inches of snow in parts of Colorado’s mountains on August 27, 1992, a rare summer snowfall that briefly closed roads.
Safety & Security | Risk Level: Low-to-Moderate & →
🪧Upcoming Protests, Rallies, and Activism
Small-scale Protests Across the Front Range: Multiple demonstrations (mostly recurring events) are planned for the week ahead: Indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights (at the capital), a peace vigil for Palestine (Arvada), a “Neighbors 4 Democracy” protest (Lyons/Boulder County), #TeslaTakedown protests (Loveland), but no large scale rallies are currently scheduled.
🐂A Few Upcoming Events
Colorado State Fair: While this event takes place outside of the region, guests from across the state will descend on Pueblo from August 22nd to September 1st.
Chicano Moratorium March: Activist groups plan a large rally and march on Friday, Aug. 29, to mark 55 years since the 1970 Chicano Moratorium protests against the Vietnam War. The Denver event will begin at 6 p.m. at the State Capitol’s west steps.
Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off: From August 30 to September 1, the state’s largest hot air balloon festival will draw tens of thousands of spectators to Memorial Park in Colorado Springs for early morning and evening events.
9/11 Anniversary Vigilance: The 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is approaching, and while no specific threats are reported in Colorado, federal authorities typically urge heightened vigilance around this date. The latest DHS threat bulletin (in effect through Sept. 22) notes that “multiple recent terrorist attacks have been motivated by extremist ideologies” and warns that foreign conflicts (e.g., Iran or Israel-related tensions) could inspire homegrown violence.
National Safety & Security Expo (NSC Congress): Beginning on Sept. 12, thousands of law enforcement, fire/EMS, and emergency management professionals will be at the Convention Center.
🔫Anniversaries
2020 Kenosha, WI Unrest: During protests following a police shooting, an armed teenager killed two people and injured a third. The demonstrations were marked by daily peaceful protesting followed by confrontations with law enforcement, rioting, and arson at night. A state of emergency was declared on August 23, and the National Guard was activated on the 24th. On August 25, a 17-year-old from Illinois, who had joined a group of armed civilians to protect businesses, opened fire after being attacked.
Health & Medical | Risk Level: Moderate & ↑
😷Disease Outbreak Status
Measles: Two updates this week. An unvaccinated child in Adams County became the state’s 17th measles case of the year. A few days later, the number of cases jumped to 21, with a possible exposure at DIA on August 12th.
Respiratory Viruses: COVID-19 infections are rising across Colorado, though still at a “very low” level statewide, with specific counties along the Front Range seeing cases increase into the “low” level. Wastewater surveillance shows the state increasing to a “moderate” level of infection. Flu and RSV are “very low” with “no change.”
West Nile Virus (WNV): The region is in peak mosquito season and WNV is active. Colorado has confirmed numerous human WNV infections and at least three deaths statewide so far. Infected mosquitoes have been found in all Front Range counties.
🔥Environmental Health
Air Quality: Summer ozone pollution and intermittent wildfire smoke continue to impact Front Range air quality. AQI is forecast to be in the “moderate” range for the early portion of this reporting period, and smoke from the wildfires on the west side of the state made its way to the Front Range.
🦟Anniversaries
West Nile Virus in the U.S.: On August 23, 1999, the first U.S. cases of West Nile were reported in New York City. Initially baffling doctors (presenting as encephalitis), it was soon identified as West Nile – previously only seen in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. By late summer 1999, 7 people had died and dozens were ill. This anniversary is significant as it heralded a new era of mosquito-borne disease in the U.S. By 2003, West Nile had spread to 48 states. Since 1999, over 50,000 U.S. cases have been reported and more than 2,300 people have died from West Nile virus, becoming the nation’s leading cause of mosquito-borne disease.
Cybersecurity | Risk Level: Moderate & →
☎️A Few Past‑Week Cyber Incidents
There are no new publicly reported cybersecurity incidents across the Front Range this week.
Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office Ransomware: A cyberattack knocked the office’s website, email, and phones offline last week. Notably, security experts found that the office’s network had unpatched Citrix NetScaler servers vulnerable to the “Citrix Bleed 2” flaw (CVE-2025-5777) on July 14th, which attackers have actively exploited since May. Federal agencies have ordered immediate patching of this bug due to evidence of ongoing attacks.
🔐Current Threats
Actively Exploited Unpatched Software Flaws: This week, CISA added a Trend Micro Apex One (an enterprise cybersecurity vulnerability management vendor) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The flaw, an OS command injection, is under active attack and can enable remote code execution on Trend Micro antivirus servers. All organizations should prioritize patching these high-risk vulnerabilities, as federal guidelines require prompt remediation to blunt ongoing threats.
🏧Anniversaries
2014 JPMorgan Chase Data Breach: Mid-August 2014 marked the end of an attack that was discovered in July of that year and resulted in one of the largest bank breaches to date. Ultimately, 76 million households and 7 million small businesses were impacted. Nine other financial institutions were targeted as part of this attack.