Gorgeous work week ahead of winter weather for the weekend
Sunday, November 1, 2020
The Steamboat Springs area is seeing sunny skies and a temperature of 53 F early this Sunday afternoon. The current beautiful and uneventful weather is forecast to continue largely through the work week before the next wintry storm approaches our area around next weekend.
An expansive ridge of high pressure is currently centered over the West Coast between an area of storminess in the Gulf of Alaska and a cold storm over the Great Lakes. As the ridge slowly moves east, we should see temperatures this week in the fifties, above our average of 50 F, with the Monday high temperatures tickling the sixty degree mark. The only thing that will interrupt our gorgeous weather with warm sunny days and cool clear nights is an area of low pressure currently off the southern coast of California that is forecast to move over Colorado from Tuesday night through Wednesday. We should see increasing cloudiness later Tuesday and some clouds and slightly cooler temperatures on Wednesday with a minute chance of a stray shower.
Meanwhile, a chunk of cold air from the North Pole is forecast to drop into the persistent area of storminess churning away in the Gulf of Alaska and force a wintry storm across the West Coast around Friday. While there is weather forecast model agreement that the storm will be on the move, there is disagreement with the timing and evolution of the storm, with the American GFS favoring an earlier arrival by midday Saturday and the European ECMWF holding off till overnight.
Regardless of the exact timing, we should see a warm and sunny Thursday before winds substantially increase from the southwest as the storm crosses the West Coast and travels across the Great Basin sometime on Friday or early Saturday. We may see some showers break out ahead of the strong cold front expected sometime on Saturday, with cold temperatures and snow likely on Sunday.
There is weather forecast model agreement that some trailing energy and moisture will keep the wintry weather around on Monday as the snows become more showery and taper off. While Tuesday is looking mostly dry, but cool, another wintry storm is forecast to form in the Gulf of Alaska on Monday and may affect our area around midweek.
Enjoy the pleasant weather this work week as an active jet stream looks to end the mild fall weather starting this weekend. But stay tuned to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for more details about our next wintry storm.
