Warm and dry weather follows a small storm for Saturday
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Other than a weak storm for Saturday, warm and sunny late fall weather looks to usher in Opening Day at the Steamboat Ski area, which is scheduled for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
The beautiful weather this Thursday continues on Friday for Steamboat Springs, with even warmer high temperatures that will be five to ten degrees above our average of 41 F. Our best chance for snow will occur from Saturday afternoon through the night as s small storm currently in British Columbia moves across our area in northwest flow. Cooler air begins moving in early Saturday with snow showers most likely from the afternoon through the night. I would expect only 1-4” at mid-mountain by Sunday morning, with the best snows falling along the Wyoming border.
The sun returns starting Sunday, and after a chilly start, warming will occur first at the higher elevations during the day followed by the lower elevations by later Monday. Gorgeous warm and sunny weather will continue for Tuesday at which point substantial disagreement in the weather forecast models leave hope that we’ll see the chance of snow around Thanksgiving or the following weekend. But the hope is based upon an abrupt change in the prognosis of the usually consistent ECMWF and is at odds with the American GFS. For what it’s worth, the GFS shows a continuation of the dry and sunny weather for Thanksgiving and the following weekend, so stay tuned for my Sunday forecast on how this difference is resolved.
