Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Saturday night

Saturday, March 12, 2016

A larger and intense storm is currently affecting the Pacific Northwest. An ejecting wave on Sunday will stay mostly north and west of our area but will bring likely clouds and the small possibility of light showers for the late afternoon and evening. Southwest winds will increase overnight as the parent storm then moves ashore before a cold front passes through our area on Monday, bringing at least a short period of possibly intense snowfall and falling temperatures.

Favorable wet and cool northwesterly flow will keep breezy to windy conditions around during Monday as moderate to heavy snow occurs on the hill. Valleys will also see snow, though it will fall at much lighter amounts than on the mountain. Current forecasts are pointing toward the possibility of as much as 8-16” on Mount Werner by Tuesday morning with 4-8” in the valleys.

Current model trends as of Saturday night show a somewhat weaker storm on Monday evening which would decrease totals by 2-4”, but I’d like to see future iterations of the models before believing it.

Winter weather looks to continue through the work week as periodic waves embedded in moist northwest flow move over the area and bring surges of cold air and increased snowfall.