Unsettled weather week ahead
Sunday, March 22, 2020
I had 3” on my deck early this Sunday morning, and though the snow has currently stopped, a mix of sun and showers are expected through the rest of the afternoon. We can expect unsettled weather for the upcoming work week, with our best chances for snow from later Monday into Tuesday and near the end of the work week.
The just passed storm brought a good cold front through north-central Colorado this morning, with the Steamboat Powdercam showing 10” of snow over the last few days and 6” of that occurring this morning. In fact, the top of Sunshine Peak received 2” of snow between 5:40 am and 6:40 am when the cold front passed through. Though there are now patches of blue sky in the Yampa Valley, snow showers will redevelop this afternoon with briefly moderate snowfall rates in the heavier showers that could leave another several inches by sunset.
Another storm currently just off the central California coast will be forced eastward across our area starting Monday afternoon by yet another strong and cold storm dropping south along the West Coast from the Gulf of Alaska. We’ll likely see another 2-5” of snow from this storm between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
The weather turns less active starting later Tuesday for several days as the Gulf of Alaska storm drops south along the West Coast through midweek and weakly splits. A somewhat stationary front will extend northeastward from central California through the Great Basin and Wyoming for several days, with the cooler and stormier weather north of the front battling the warmer and drier weather south of the front. Though our area will generally be on the warmer and drier side of the front, its proximity means we will likely see some clouds and showers with minimal accumulations at times from Tuesday through Thursday.
By around Thursday, weather forecast models move the West Coast storm across the Great Basin as it further splits and weakens. It does look like there will be enough of a storm to bring modest accumulating snowfall at times from later Thursday through Friday night, though specific timing and amounts will have to wait until my next weather narrative scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Behind the late-work week storm, it looks like we will dry out for the weekend and headed into the following work week, though currently a chance of afternoon showers are forecast for both weekend days.
