Seasonable weather for the upcoming week
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Temperatures are currently around 40 F late this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs, after dropping from 60 F at 9 am to freezing around noon thanks to a strong cold front that moved through. While the snowflakes that fell this morning did briefly coat the non-paved surfaces in town with snow that quickly melted this afternoon, current breaks in the clouds reveal a white top to Mt. Werner. There may be another round of showers as we head into the evening before we’ll see a cold start to Columbus Day. Temperatures will quickly warm tomorrow afternoon and remain seasonable, but breezy, through the upcoming week, with a cool down expected on Thursday as a dry cold front passes through later Wednesday.
The cold front this morning was impressive, especially for those unlucky enough to be caught unawares. After the possibility of another shower or two as we head into the evening, we’ll see a quite cold night with low temperatures around twenty. But temperatures will quickly warm toward our average of 61 F, even under breezy winds from the west or northwest.
In fact, the elevated winds from the northwest and west look to stick around for much of the upcoming week as an active jet stream takes up residence over most of the country. But temperatures will warm to the mid-sixties on Tuesday and stay that way for most of the upcoming week, except for Thursday when they will drop below average thanks to a quick-moving and dry cold front currently timed for later Wednesday.
While a ridge of high pressure tries to build just off the West Coast behind the cold front that will affect us on Wednesday, additional waves of Pacific energy traveling over the ridge and interacting with the cold air centered near Hudson Bay will keep the recent unseasonably warm temperatures away. And while weather forecast models disagree on the outcome of the battle between the nascent West Coast ridge and cold air from Hudson Bay, they agree that through next weekend, the weather is looking dry, breezy and seasonable. Stay tuned to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon to see what weather we may expect after next weekend.
