Showers to continue through Tuesday ahead of a midweek break
Sunday, April 26, 2026
A round of rain showers is passing through Steamboat Springs early this Sunday afternoon, just after temperatures reached 50 degrees, with snow showers at and above mid-mountain at the Steamboat Ski Resort. The unsettled weather will continue through Tuesday, leaving significant precipitation ahead of a Wednesday break. More showers are forecast for Thursday, with another break advertised for Friday and lasting into next weekend.
After waiting all winter, a trough of low pressure extending from the Canadian Plains to southern California is downstream of a ridge of high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska. Waves of energy moving across the northern Pacific have traveled over the top of the ridge, ingesting cool air from western Canada as they move down the backside of the trough.
Two strong waves will move through our area through Tuesday, with the first wave now in southern Utah forecast to move across Colorado tonight. Rain showers will continue through tonight, with snow levels dropping to around 7,500′; low enough to see some snowflakes in town by Monday morning.
The second wave, now moving through northern California, will round the base of the trough Monday night, allowing showers to continue on Monday as it approaches our area. Snow levels will rise during the day before falling to around 7,000′ by Tuesday morning behind the wave, perhaps leaving some minor snowfall accumulations in town.
A weaker third wave will move through later Tuesday, keeping showers around through the day before at least a short break on Wednesday. We could see around a foot of snow at high elevations by Tuesday night, with around three-quarters of an inch of rain in town.
By later Wednesday, the northern part of the trough is forecast to rotate into Ontario, even as additional energy moving over the top of the Gulf of Alaska ridge keeps the southern end of the trough anchored over the West. However, this next piece of energy splits as it moves across Idaho on Wednesday night, with the southern end moving across Nevada on Thursday and the northern end bringing another round of showers later Wednesday and Thursday.
Weather forecast models agree that some of the splitting energy to our west will interact with an eddy of low pressure off the southern California coast, eventually moving across the Desert Southwest on Friday. However, they disagree on the northern extent of the weather, with the American GFS keeping the storm farther south and our area shower-free for Friday, and the European ECMWF farther north.
Next weekend is looking far less active, but only briefly, as an incoming Pacific storm looks to bring unsettled weather back into our area by late in the weekend or early the following workweek. So welcome the moisture to start the workweek, and I’ll have more details about the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Weekend to start nice start but end with significant precipitation
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures approaching the mid-forties, on their way toward 50 degrees, are over Steamboat Springs at noon on this Thursday after a cool front last night. Temperatures will rebound, and skies will clear on a mostly sunny Friday, with some sun possible on Saturday, ahead of good precipitation chances for Sunday.
We are just south of a wintry storm centered over the northern Rockies, which is downstream of a ridge of high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska. Southwesterly winds as high as 40 mph at the Bob Adams Airport and 50 mph at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort preceded the cool front yesterday, which moved through late in the afternoon.
The storm’s center is forecast to wobble over southern Alberta and Saskatchewan through the weekend as a wave of energy moves over the top of the Gulf of Alaska ridge, elongating the storm toward the southwest across the Pacific Northwest and northern California.
Meanwhile, two areas of low pressure undercutting the Gulf of Alaska ridge and moving eastward will be drawn into the southwestern end of the Canadian storm, the first bringing clouds by Friday night after a mostly sunny day with high temperatures just above our average of 57 degrees.
We may see some periods of sun behind the departing wave centered around noon on Saturday, before clouds increase again ahead of the stronger, wetter wave for Sunday, even as temperatures warm a few degrees from Friday.
Depending upon the speed of this second wave as it slingshots around the main storm, showers could start as early as Saturday night or as late as noon on Sunday. More persistent precipitation will follow Sunday afternoon, continuing through the night, with snow levels above 8,500′ early in the day, falling to around 7,500′ by Monday morning.
Another wave of energy moving down the west side of the Canadian storm on Monday will reinforce its southwesterly elongation, possibly grabbing some moisture left behind by the Sunday wave and continuing showers on Monday.
We could see around a foot of snow at the higher elevations and between a half inch and three-quarters of an inch of rain at the lower elevations by Monday evening. After a short break on Tuesday and at least part of Wednesday, we may see additional precipitation from the southern end of the Canadian storm, forecast to wobble into Manitoba by midweek.
So enjoy the nice start to the weekend, look forward to the coming, desperately needed moisture, and I’ll have more details on the evolving precipitation chances for the following workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Beautiful workweek start to precede a midweek pattern change
Sunday, April 19, 2026
A gorgeous day is over Steamboat Springs this Sunday mid-afternoon with sunny skies and temperatures around 60 degrees. Beautiful weather with even warmer temperatures will persist through Tuesday before winds pick up on a still-warm Wednesday ahead of a pattern change bringing cooler, unsettled weather that may hang around for a while.
After a wintry Friday brought around 5” of snow to mid-mountain and 9” up top, with a couple of inches in town, and a bright but cool Saturday, temperatures have warmed today above our average of 56 degrees under a ridge of high pressure over the West.
The ridge, downstream of a large eddy of low pressure moving southward along the West Coast, will persist over our area into midweek as the eddy eventually moves eastward across the central California coast on Tuesday.
Temperatures under mostly sunny skies will warm toward 70 degrees on Monday and perhaps the mid-seventies on Tuesday, well above our 56-degree average. The eddy is forecast to move across the Great Basin on Wednesday and ingest cold air moving southward from western Canada, bringing increasing clouds and winds by Wednesday afternoon, high temperatures in the sixties, and a cool front late in the afternoon or early in the evening.
Cooler temperatures and unsettled weather will follow, lasting through the weekend and into at least next week, perhaps even into the first part of May. However, the details are very uncertain as the leading part of the eddy is partially deflected to our north by our early-workweek ridge of high pressure, which will have been pushed to the Midwest, even as more cold air from western Canada reinvigorates the western part of the lingering eddy over Nevada.
This creates a general trough of low pressure over the West (finally!), allowing for cool weather and periods of precipitation, with snow levels dipping to town-level overnight and rising to around 8,000′ during the day.
Right now, the precipitation looks to start on the showery side, with weather forecast models disagreeing if more persistent precipitation arrives for the weekend’s start, like the American GFS, or closer to the weekend’s end, like the European ECMWF. So enjoy the gorgeous start to the workweek, and I’ll have more details on the cooler and unsettled weather that follows in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Weekend weather to clear after wintry storm for Friday
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the low sixties are over Steamboat Springs on this Thursday mid-afternoon. A strong cold front tonight will bring wintry weather on Friday, with significant snowfall at all elevations, followed by mostly sunny skies and warming temperatures for the weekend.
Our next weather-maker is moving southeastward through Idaho, with a strong cold front stretching from central Utah into northwest Wyoming. Southwest breezes ahead of the front will continue through the afternoon before the cold front blasts through mid-evening, with snow showers starting at all elevations by around midnight.
Snowfall rates may be as high as an inch per hour at times between 3 am and noon on Friday, with brief showers occurring during the afternoon in our favorable cold and unstable northwest flow behind the storm. We could see 5-10” of snowfall on the hill, with around half that in town by sunset on Friday, with high temperatures in town struggling to rise above freezing, over 20 degrees below our 55-degree average.
If skies clear by Saturday morning as forecast, we will be greeted by wintertime temperatures reaching as low as the teens in town, below our average of 27 degrees, and single digits at the top of the now-closed Steamboat Ski Resort.
Mostly sunny skies on Saturday should allow high temperatures to rise into the mid-forties in town, followed by another warmer, but still cold Sunday morning, with high temperatures rising to around 60 degrees.
Meanwhile, another storm is forecast to develop over the Aleutian Islands on Friday, strengthen as it ingests cold air moving southward across Alaska, and elongate to the south as it moves across the Gulf of Alaska mid-weekend, eventually forming an eddy off the northern California coast on Monday.
Southerly winds ahead of the eddy will allow high temperatures to keep rising as a ridge of high pressure builds overhead, eventually reaching around 70 degrees by Tuesday. The pleasant weather is forecast to continue through most of the workweek until the eddy is forced eastward across the West by energy moving across the northern Pacific.
Our end-of-workweek weather will depend upon the northern stream energy and its eventual interaction with the eddy, with weather forecast models varying both between and within themselves. So, welcome the wintry-springtime moisture on Friday, enjoy the mostly sunny weekend, and I’ll have more details about the incoming eddy in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Workweek to start and end colder with likely precipitation
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Mostly sunny skies are over Steamboat Springs late this Sunday morning with temperatures in the mid-fifties, on their way to the mid-sixties. An approaching storm will bring cooler weather with some shower chances on Monday, followed by even colder temperatures and precipitation on Tuesday. Behind the storm, temperatures rebound on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of a colder, stronger storm bringing snowfall to all elevations for the end of the workweek.
A strong storm centered over northern California and headed our way has brought impressive snowfall to the Sierras, with 28” of snowfall already recorded at Kirkwood, and more coming! The storm will elongate and stretch to the southwest as it enters the Great Basin on Monday, eventually splitting as it moves overhead on Tuesday.
After a pleasant day today, with high temperatures around 10 degrees above our average of 54 degrees and afternoon breezes from the southwest, cool air will begin to filter into our area tonight as the Pacific storm enters the Great Basin and ejects waves of cool air and moisture. High temperatures drop to around or just below average on Monday, with chances for passing showers starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow.
A stronger wave rounding the storm during Monday will bring a cold front through our area Monday night, lowering snow levels to around 7,500′ and bringing a rainy Tuesday in town, perhaps with some snowflakes mixed in, and 3-6” of upper-elevation snowfall. High temperatures will finally fall below average for a change, reaching only around 50 degrees.
Skies will partially clear behind the storm during the day on Wednesday, with high temperatures rebounding toward average, followed by around 60 degrees on a Thursday that should start mostly sunny.
Meanwhile, a chunk of cold air from Siberia will travel across the Gulf of Alaska on Monday and cross the Vancouver coast on Tuesday. More cold air from western Canada will strengthen the wintry storm on Wednesday as it travels across the Pacific Northwest, traversing the Great Basin on Thursday and bringing a strong cold front with likely significant snowfall for all elevations starting Thursday night or early Friday.
Until then, enjoy the Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel and the Wailers concerts at the base of the now-closed Steamboat Ski Resort today, hope for more moisture than forecast on Tuesday, and I’ll have more details about the wintry end-of-week storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
