Snowy upcoming week, except for Friday and Sunday
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Snow showers have started up again this Wednesday afternoon in Steamboat Springs as a weak cool front in northwest flow approaches north-central Colorado. The briefly moderate snowfall intensity this afternoon will become lighter behind the front tonight and taper off during Thursday night. Most of Friday and Sunday look to be precipitation free with some light snow likely from Friday night into Saturday morning, but a couple of more storms forecast for later Monday and Wednesday will keep snows going for most of the upcoming week.
A ridge currently over the West Coast has directed moist northwest flow over the Rockies. A wave in this flow will bring a cool front through our area this afternoon, leading to breezy winds and generally light snow showers which could briefly become moderate. On top of this mornings report of 3.5” at mid-mountain and 4” up top, the snow report for Thursday morning should again be in the 2-5” range.
Though light snow could continue through Thursday night, warmer air aloft ahead of our next small storm for Friday night will stabilize the atmosphere and limit accumulations to 1-4” by Friday morning.
Though the daytime hours of Friday are likely to be precipitation-free, a weakening storm moves over our area from Friday evening through Saturday morning. I would expect total accumulations to be another 1-4” by noon on Saturday.
A ridge of high pressure then moves over the West during the weekend, allowing snows to cease from Saturday afternoon through Sunday night. But the break in the weather will be short-lived as another weakening storm moves over our area Monday followed by a better-looking storm for Wednesday. Light snow between the storms is currently advertised for Tuesday and again after the storm on Wednesday, making for a snowy upcoming week.
Some sort of ridge of high pressure is forecast to move over the West around the following weekend which should stop the snows and allow the sun to reappear for a time.
