Quiet weather week ahead
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Generally warmer temperatures and dry weather is expected for the upcoming week, with a ridge of high pressure over the western states causing incoming Pacific storms to weaken and travel mainly north of the Steamboat Springs area.
The weak storm advertised in the previous forecast for Friday night has split, ensuring only minimal precipitation, if any, for northern Colorado. The northern piece of the storm may bring some clouds later Friday, while the southern piece will travel near northern Colorado on Saturday. Temperatures will cool a bit Saturday, and along with some clouds there will be a slight chance of minimal precipitation later in the day.
Sunday is still looking beautiful as a dry and warm airmass moves across the area.
A large storm will form in the Gulf of Alaska early in the work week, and a weakening piece of it will travel over our area on Tuesday. Ahead of that, clouds may be on the increase on Monday ahead of a slight chance of spotty showers and cooler temperatures on Tuesday.
The Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to cross the West Coast on Wednesday, and we will see some clouds and normal temperatures ahead of it.
By Thursday, current model runs have trended stronger with the storm as it crosses the Great Basin, bringing a cold front through the area along with windy southwest flow ahead of the front and windy northwest flow behind the front. While it looks like we will have a decent shot of cold air and precipitation, the strength of the storm will likely vary in future model runs, so confidence is low.
The longer-term forecast for week two has turned drier the last few days as Gulf of Alaska storms form and now move southwestward, pumping up a ridge of high pressure over the western states. However, there is still plenty of time for the long-term model to revert to the earlier solutions which were far colder and snowier.
