Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Friday

Friday, June 3, 2016

Weak waves passing to our north and east tonight and tomorrow night may bring some mid and high clouds, but mostly dry conditions and warming temperatures from near normal to above normal can be expected through the end of the weekend.

There will be an increased chance of afternoon showers Sunday afternoon as atmospheric moisture is trapped between a developing trough over the central to eastern US and and the western ridge.

The chance of mostly afternoon showers will increase further on Monday as another weak wave again skirts our area early Monday.

Surprisingly, an active jet stream continues across the Pacific, likely reinforced by still cold air in Siberia and northern Canada that rotates southward across the northern Pacific. The end result is a battle over the western US as a building ridge is moderated by incoming Pacific energy.

A weak Pacific storm forecast to cross the central California coast late in the weekend will be the first test of the resiliency of the ridge. The storm is forecast to move through the ridge and over our area later Tuesday or early Wednesday. The storm is fairly dry, so the main effect may be the continuation of afternoon showers, though there may be increasing clouds ahead of wave.

After that, a much stronger storm approaches the West Coast midweek. Current model have the storm weakening as it moves through the western ridge and keeps the storm north of our area, possibly allowing temperatures to reach their warmest readings of the year.