Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Friday
Friday, May 20, 2016
Another large storm, currently in Oregon, will move south along the West Coast through Saturday, keeping warm and relatively dry air over our area with breezy to windy southwest winds for Saturday.
The storm will first move eastward into the Great Basin tomorrow before lifting to the northeast through Idaho on Sunday, brushing our area with a cold front with gusty winds Sunday afternoon. Models keep the airmass relatively dry, and have trended any Sunday afternoon storm weaker, or even non-existent in some models.
Following quickly on Monday, another Pacific storm approaches the northwest coast, allowing cool air from western Canada to spread over the western third of the US. The storm is further off the coast than the previous storm and allows some dry air from the southwest to be transported over Colorado for Monday and Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday. There will still be a chance of afternoon storms for each day, though, as numerous waves of energy travel over our area.
After traveling south along the West Coast on Monday, this storm is forecast to turn eastward around midweek and travel across southern Arizona and New Mexico, bringing increasing chances of cool and mostly showery weather for Thursday and Friday.
If you’ve made it this far, I am traveling this upcoming week and will likely be unable to publish forecasts prepared on Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 29. Also, the daily forecast might become more periodic next week, likely being refreshed every second or third day.
Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Thursday
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Afternoon showers should decrease in intensity for Friday compared to the last few days as the airmass dries and significantly warms ahead of another large storm approaching the Pacific Northwest around Friday. This storm is forecast to move south along the West Coast through Saturday, keeping warm and relatively dry air over our area with breezy to windy southwest winds for the first part of the weekend.
By Sunday, the West Coast storm is forecast to be moving eastward through the Great Basin. Model trends have reverted towards the solution from a couple of days ago, with the bulk of the storm skirting to our northwest, but still close enough to still bring a cold front with gusty winds and showers through the area around Sunday afternoon.
Following quickly on Monday, another Pacific storm approaches the northwest coast, allowing cool air from western Canada to spread over the western third of the US. The storm is further off the coast than the previous storm and allows some dry air from the southwest to be transported over Colorado for Monday and Tuesday. There will still be a chance of afternoon storms for each day, though, as numerous waves of energy travel over our area.
After traveling south along the West Coast on Monday, this storm is forecast to turn eastward around midweek and travel across southern Arizona and New Mexico, bringing increasing chances of cool and mostly showery weather to end the work week.
Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Wednesday
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
The now-diffuse storm to our south will mainly affect areas to our south for tonight and tomorrow, though we will still have cool and showery weather for Thursday with some sun for the first part of the day followed by passing afternoon storms later in the day.
Afternoon showers should decrease in intensity for Friday as the airmass dries and significantly warms ahead of another large storm approaching the Pacific Northwest around Friday. This storm is forecast to move south along the West Coast through Saturday, keeping warm and relatively dry air over our area with breezy to windy southwest winds for the first part of the weekend.
By Sunday, the West Coast storm is forecast to be moving eastward through the Great Basin. Rather than skirting to our northwest as in yesterday’s forecast, the storm now looks to bring a cold front through the area around Sunday afternoon, possibly bringing some strong storms and dropping temperatures later in the day.
Following quickly on Monday, another Pacific storm approaches the northwest coast, allowing cool air from western Canada to spread over the western third of the US. Weather over our area will generally be cool and unsettled through midweek, with periodic light showers, especially in the afternoon, as this storm approaches and moves over our area midweek.
Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Tuesday
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Great Basin storm currently near Las Vegas that is affecting our weather is forecast to travel eastward along the Old Mexico border tonight and tomorrow, which is further south than earlier forecasts. The further-south solution has lead to a drier day today than earlier predicted, and that trend will thankfully continue as the bulk of the precipitation stays to our south over the next few days.
We will still have cool and showery weather for Wednesday and Thursday with some sun for the first part of the day followed by passing afternoon storms, possibly strong, later in the day.
Afternoon showers should decrease in intensity for Friday as the airmass dries and significantly warms ahead of another large storm approaching the Pacific Northwest around Friday. This storm is forecast to move south along the West Coast through the weekend, keeping warm and relatively dry air over our area with breezy to windy southwest winds for most of the weekend. There will be enough moisture around, however, for the obligatory passing afternoon storms.
There is uncertainty with the track of the West Coast storm as it moves near our area early in the work week, with current model solutions pointing towards more of a grazing storm to our northwest than a direct hit.
Steamboat Springs area weather forecast from Monday
Monday, May 16, 2016
Quite the wintry day across the country for mid-May at the higher elevations as the Steamboat Powdercam showed almost 5” of snow had fallen at the top of Sunshine Peak by late this morning, along with 5” at Killington Resort in Vermont and 3” at Timberline Lodge in Oregon.
The storm responsible for our weather today was dropping south through the Great Basin this afternoon and will affect the Four Corners states through Thursday.
More cool air washes over our area tonight from the Great Lakes storm that affected our weather last week, reinforcing the cool temperatures and possibly bringing some stray snowflakes to the Steamboat valley overnight.
The Great Basin storm then weakens and turns eastward later Tuesday, bringing another round of moderate to heavy showers Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Continued cool and showery weather with possibly some sun in the mornings and likely moderate to strong afternoon storms are on tap for Wednesday and Thursday as the storm passes south of our area and eventually moves east of the Rockies.
Afternoon showers should decrease in intensity for Friday as the airmass dries before another large storm approaches the Pacific Northwest late in the work week. The ECMWF and GFS models have compromised with this new storm’s movement, now bringing a tongue of warm and dry air over our area with breezy southwest winds for most of the weekend before wet weather returns early in the next work week.
