Two storms possible on Thanksgiving night and Saturday

Sunday, November 18, 2018

After several inches of snow fell at the Steamboat Ski Area yesterday afternoon and evening, the next chance of snow in the Steamboat Springs area occurs late on Thanksgiving day and again around Saturday.

Skies will clear this Sunday, with temperatures staying several degrees below our average high of 39 F as a ridge of high pressure moves from the West Coast to the Rockies by midweek. Some energy traveling down the east side of the ridge from the Canadian Plains will graze northern Colorado starting tonight, and other than some clouds and continued below average temperatures on Monday, no additional precipitation is expected.

Dry air overspreads Colorado by Tuesday and Wednesday leading to some gorgeous warm late-fall weather for Opening Day at the Steamboat Ski area on Wednesday. And for those keeping track, the weather forecast model differences discussed in last Thursday’s forecast have been resolved in favor of the European ECMWF which captured the upcoming unsettled weather a day earlier than the American GFS.

So an incoming Pacific storm crosses the West Coast by Wednesday and quickly travels across the Great Basin, first bringing clouds early on Thanksgiving Day and then snows by later in the day that continue overnight This is not a cold system, but we should see snow down to the Yampa Valley floor, with possibly 3-6” at mid-mountain by Friday morning.

Even though the snows may not completely stop, we will be in between storms during the day on Friday as another storm that forms in the Gulf of Alaska around midweek quickly follows our Thanksgiving Day storm. This one will be stronger, colder and longer-lasting, with moderate to heavy snows possible starting late Friday or early Saturday and continuing into the evening. Weather forecast models have not settled on the exact track of the storm yet, but 6-12” of additional snow at mid-mountain is possible during the day Saturday, which will be reported Sunday morning.

We may see some clearing on Sunday along with cool temperatures before another possibly weaker storm is advertised for early in the following work week.