Hot weekend on tap, with today’s breezes to relax before resuming Sunday
Thursday, June 4, 2026
A mix of sun and clouds is over Steamboat Springs early this Thursday afternoon with temperatures in the upper 70s. The breezes today will relax on Friday and Saturday before picking up again on Sunday and lasting through much of next week ahead of an approaching storm. High temperatures through the weekend should be in the low 80s, except on Saturday, when the 2000 record high of 87 degrees may be challenged.
A ridge of high pressure is over the Southeast, with a weak area of low pressure over Baja and strong storms in the Gulf of Alaska and just south of the Aleutian Islands. The breezes today are due to our proximity to the jet stream, which is moving across the Northern Rockies.
The Baja system is forecast to lift northeastward across Texas on Saturday, too far east to affect our Friday weather, but perhaps bringing some Saturday afternoon and evening cloudiness. Friday should see mostly sunny skies, with decreased breezes and high temperatures around 80 degrees, above our 73-degree average.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest storm will approach Vancouver on Friday and move into the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, rotating northeastward across Idaho into Canada on Sunday as the Aleutian storm takes its place in the Gulf of Alaska. Winds will turn southwesterly on Saturday ahead of the storm, bringing much warmer air from the Desert Southwest overhead and allowing high temperatures to challenge the 87-degree record from 2000, despite the possible late-day cloudiness. High temperatures will then drop a few degrees on Sunday as some cooler air behind the storm leaks southeastward from Idaho.
The Southeast ridge of high pressure will also broaden and build northward across the Central U.S. and into Canada as the next Gulf of Alaska storm takes a more southerly track along the West Coast through the beginning of next week, and directs warm air across much of the U.S. The storm is then forecast to turn inland and move eastward across the Great Basin, possibly affecting us around midweek, strengthening daytime winds, and starting the week with continued warm temperatures.
Be sure to enjoy the summery weekend, with temperatures around or above the 83-degree late-July average summer-peak, and I’ll have more details about the approaching storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
