More seasonable weather returns for the upcoming week
Thursday, October 31, 2019
After the weather extremes of the last several days around Colorado, benign weather appears for the upcoming week, and likely beyond. Several grazing systems will bring cool temperatures and breezy northwest winds to northern Colorado on Friday, around Monday and the following Thursday, along with some clouds and the possibility of light intermittent snow showers at the higher elevations.
After a low this morning of -8 F and a daytime maximum temperature of 12 F yesterday, this Thursday saw a high of 28 F, only several degrees above our average low of 22 F, and 23 F below our average high of 51 F. The ridge of high pressure off the West Coast that has directed arctic our southward over the Rockies has also been responsible for the extreme fire behavior in California as the Santa Ana winds have roared.
We’ll see another cold night tonight with low temperatures around zero, and Pacific energy rounding the ridge will drag a weak cool front through northern Colorado on Friday. But the storm will not mix with polar air again until it is well east of our area, so temperatures will warm several degrees from today even as there is a possibility of some light snow showers at the higher elevations.
After a Saturday morning again near zero, temperatures will begin to recover in earnest behind Friday’s grazing storm, though will still be seasonably cool and around ten degrees below average. This looks to continue for Sunday with plenty of sun and breezy northwest winds
More of the same is expected for the work week as the West Coast ridge looks to remain persistent. A couple more Pacific storms rounding the ridge will continue the breezy northwest winds across northern Colorado, with another couple of grazing cool fronts around Monday and Thursday leading to only a slight decrease in temperatures.
The West Coast ridge is forecast to weaken and move inland for the following weekend as the Pacific jet stream encroaches across the eastern Pacific. Sunny skies and warmer temperatures closer to average are currently expected for the following weekend.
Note that I will be traveling this weekend, likely delaying my normal Sunday afternoon weather narrative until Monday.
