Beautiful spring weekend ahead
Thursday, April 24, 2025
After a mostly sunny morning in Steamboat Springs, temperatures this Thursday mid-afternoon are around sixty degrees with a few rumbles of thunder and sprinkles of rain. Friday will be several degrees warmer and drier before mostly sunny skies and temperatures approaching seventy degrees grace the last weekend of April.
Today will be the final day the stationary front just to our north will influence our weather this workweek. Some energy moving across the northern Rockies and over the front encouraged today’s showers, but southwest winds ahead of a splitting storm extending south from the Gulf of Alaska will bring dry air from the Desert Southwest toward our area starting Friday. Though some clouds may be around during the day, warmer air from the south should allow temperatures to rise into the mid-sixties.
Meanwhile, the southern end of the splitting storm will form an eddy off the coast of northern California on Friday. The eddy is forecast to rotate across central California early Saturday before moving across Nevada and approaching Utah by Sunday. Breezes will increase ahead of the storm on Saturday and more so on Sunday as temperatures reach the upper-sixties under mostly sunny skies Saturday and most of Sunday.
Enjoy the beautiful spring weekend as the approaching eddy is forecast to split and elongate to the southwest on Monday, bringing increasing clouds by Sunday afternoon and a cold front with possible precipitation as soon as Sunday night. There is some uncertainty regarding precipitation due to the splitting storm and how much energy is partitioned into the northern and southern streams, with a cooler Monday accompanied by possibly unsettled weather according to the American GFS, but not the European ECMWF. High temperatures will drop about fifteen degrees from Sunday into the low-fifties and below our average of 59 F.
Temperatures look to rebound toward average on Tuesday, with high uncertainty regarding a wave of energy and moisture currently moving across the Aleutian Islands that may bring more unsettled weather by midweek. I’ll have more details about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Typical spring weather to return this workweek
Sunday, April 20, 2025
High clouds are filtering the sunshine late this Sunday morning in Steamboat Springs, with temperatures in the low forties in town and low twenties at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Temperatures will warm about five degrees each day from about fifty degrees today to the mid-sixties by Thursday. Clouds will come and go as is typical with spring weather, with chances for some afternoon showers.
After a brief wintry spell brought a last powder day on Friday, with about six inches of snow up top and a low temperature of twelve degrees on Friday morning, and an additional two inches overnight and eight degrees on Saturday morning, the Steamboat Ski Resort is ending the season with 303” of snowfall and a 42” base at mid-mountain, and a 94” base with an estimate of just over 400” up top.
The storm that brought the snowfall is moving across the Oklahoma-Kansas border, but moisture from another storm crossing the Pacific Northwest coast is already moving overhead. Clouds will thicken today, with some peeks of sun and a chance for an afternoon shower as temperatures reach fifty degrees.
The storm and additional trailing energy and moisture are forecast to stay mostly north of our area as they rotate through the northern Rockies through the workweek, but afternoon shower chances will be with us through Thursday as temperatures slowly warm into the mid-fifties on Monday, around sixty degrees on Tuesday, and the mid-sixties on Wednesday and Thursday.
A weak storm moving through the Bering Sea may bring a better chance for showers on Friday, but the lack of cold air won’t impact our temperatures. However, uncertainty is high around a stronger and colder storm that follows for the end of the weekend or early the following week.
Enjoy Closing Day at the Steamboat Ski Resort today, and check back on Thursday afternoon for more details on next weekend’s weather in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative.
Wintry weather to return tonight
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Temperatures are in the upper fifties this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs under a mix of sun and clouds. A cold front on our doorstep will move through this evening, bringing sharply colder temperatures, more representative of early March than mid-April, and snowfall to all elevations through Friday. Temperatures will slowly warm through the weekend as low-elevation snowfall ends Friday night while snow showers persist at the higher elevations.
It turns out that two high temperature records were broken last week; the 76 F recorded downtown on Friday broke the 74 F record from 2012, and the 73 F recorded on Saturday broke the 72 F record set in 1992. But those early June high temperatures will be replaced by early March high temperatures on Friday as a storm from the Gulf of Alaska moves into the Great Basin after mixing with some cold air from western Canada.
Be prepared to wake up to snow Friday in town as the cold front associated with the storm blasts through Thursday mid-evening. Moderate to heavy snowfall rates of an inch an hour or more are possible at the higher elevations along and behind the front, creating difficult driving conditions at times over Rabbit Ears Pass. We could see 4-8” of snow at mid-mountain by the Friday morning ski report, and an inch or two in town.
The storm responsible for the cold front is forecast to elongate along the Nevada-Utah border through the day Friday before splitting from the northern jet stream and quickly moving across Arizona and New Mexico on Saturday as an eddy. There may be a break in the precipitation Friday morning before moderate to heavy snow showers in our favorable moist, cool and unstable northwest flow bring another 2-5” to mid-mountain in the afternoon and evening. High temperatures in town will struggle to reach forty degrees, well below our average of 55 F and typical of early March.
Winds are forecast to turn to be from the east as early as Friday night due to counterclockwise winds around the eddy to our southwest, likely ending precipitation due to air downsloping and drying off the Park Range. By Saturday afternoon, the eddy may be far enough away to allow winds to turn back to the northwest, with snow showers possible on the hill and high temperatures in town rising into the mid-forties.
Meanwhile, another storm moving across the Gulf of Alaska on Friday is forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast on Sunday. Energy and moisture ejecting out ahead of the storm may bring a chance of showers on Sunday, though there is uncertainty regarding how much energy and moisture make it overhead. High temperatures in town will rise another five degrees from Saturday and be around fifty degrees.
That storm is forecast to rotate through the northern Rockies early in the workweek, and our weather will depend upon the southern extent of a stationary front associated with the storm and some trailing energy. Monday currently looks pleasant with a chance for an afternoon shower and high temperatures in the upper-fifties.
Let’s hope for another powder day Friday ahead of Closing Weekend for the Steamboat Ski Resort, and I’ll have more details on the workweek weather in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Cold front today to be followed by nice weather to start the workweek
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Temperatures are near fifty degrees in Steamboat Springs and freezing at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under cloudy skies late this Sunday morning. A cold front passing through will bring chances for some low-elevation rain showers and high-elevation snow showers today, and perhaps some periods of afternoon sun. The weather improves for the start of the workweek before a brief period of unsettled weather appears midweek, followed by a large storm to our west that may affect our area for the end of the workweek and next weekend.
A grazing storm to our north has dragged a cold front through north-central Colorado this morning, and there may be some passing low-elevation rain showers and high-elevation snow showers today, and perhaps some periods of afternoon sun. After high temperatures around seventy degrees the last couple of days, today’s high temperature will only be around our average of 54 F.
As the front clears our area tonight, Monday will see mostly sunny skies and high temperatures warming a few degrees as a ridge of high pressure moves over the northern Rockies. Meanwhile, a chaotic cluster of low pressure eddies have formed off the coast of southern California as energy broke away and moved southward from a strong storm over the Gulf of Alaska that brought over 100” of powder to Alyeska Resort this past week.
The Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to move eastward and split as it mixes with cold air from western Canada, even as another storm takes its place. The splitting storm will force at least one southern California eddy to move northeastward through the Desert Southwest as it approaches our area on Wednesday, leading to increased clouds later Tuesday and early Wednesday. Temperatures will warm into the sixties as winds shift to be from the southwest ahead of the eddy, with precipitation dependent upon the track of the eddy and likely staying to our south.
The southern part of the splitting storm is forecast to move south of Vancouver early in the workweek, nudging at least a piece of another eddy off southern California toward our area Wednesday night. This will increase clouds and bring a chance of passing showers heading into Thursday.
Uncertainty is high for the end of the workweek and next weekend regarding the splitting storm as it moves through Idaho on Thursday. Right now, most of the storm looks to drop into the Desert Southwest by the end of the workweek, and we may see showers as the rest of the California eddy is forced to the northeast. We may also see some weather from the northern part of the split as it moves through the northern Rockies, as well as the main part of the southern split as it eventually moves east later in the weekend.
So enjoy the pleasant start to the workweek, hope for some peeks of sun for Steamboat Ski Resort’s end-of-season festivities today, and check back Thursday afternoon for more details on the evolving storm for Steamboat’s Closing Weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative.
Cool and unsettled weather to return Sunday
Thursday, April 10, 2025
A gorgeous spring day is over Steamboat Springs late this Thursday morning with sunny skies and temperatures around fifty degrees in town and freezing at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Three more days of warm weather, with a possible record high temperature on Saturday in the low-seventies, will precede a cold front on Sunday, bringing a chance of precipitation and dropping afternoon temperatures by around twenty degrees.
A ridge of high pressure sits over the Intermountain West supported by southwesterly winds ahead of a deep trough of low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska that brought forty inches of snowfall to Alaska’s Alyeska Resort over the last 3 days. A wave of cold air from the Bering Sea will rotate through the trough this weekend, causing it to split. While the southern part of the split eventually forms an eddy that will approach southern California early next week, the northern part is forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast Friday night and drag a cold front through our area on Sunday.
High temperatures will rise from the low sixties today to near seventy degrees on Friday, well above our 53 F average, under mostly sunny skies. Skies will start mostly sunny on Saturday for Steamboat Resort’s 43rd Annual Cardboard Classic, with high temperatures flirting with the record high of 72 F set in 1992, and increasingly breezy afternoon winds with mountain-top gusts reaching as high as 50 mph. That record will depend on the extent and timing of increasing clouds by Saturday afternoon ahead of the Sunday cold front.
Unsettled weather is in store on Sunday with the cold front bringing much colder temperatures and a chance for low-elevation rain showers and upper-elevation snow showers producing an inch or two of accumulation at mid-mountain, just what the participants of the Splashdown Pond Skim don’t want to hear! High temperatures will fall around twenty degrees from Saturday and end up near average, with a chance for some afternoon sun appearing depending upon the speed of the cold front.
The workweek will start dry but stay similarly cool, before temperatures rise on Tuesday ahead of possible unsettled midweek weather thanks to the slowly approaching eddy from the southern part of the Gulf of Alaska storm. So soak up the near summertime warmth to start the weekend, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
