Nice weather between Friday and Tuesday storms
Thursday, March 25, 2021
The Steamboat Springs area has seen periods of sun and snow this Thursday morning ahead of a storm centered on Friday. Nice weather returns after lingering snow showers on Saturday morning before an unseasonably cold storm is forecast for around Tuesday.
The current morning snow showers are in advance of a storm that will continue to produce snow showers for the rest of today and through Friday and into Saturday morning. Currently, the bulk of the storm is broadly draped across the western states with an ejecting piece of energy and moisture bringing the snow showers to our area today, most prevalent at the higher elevations.
Another piece of incoming energy will split as it is incorporated into the storm, with the southern piece ushering the bulk of the storm through the southern Great Basin and eventually southern Colorado tomorrow. It does look like there will be enough energy and moisture for continued snow showers through the rest of today and some of tonight, and I would expect 2-5” of snow to be reported by Friday morning.
The northern part of the split will turn our winds to be first from the west around noon on Friday and then our favorable northwest direction by the afternoon and overnight. While the snowfall looks to linger into Saturday morning, or even the afternoon at the higher elevations, most of the accumulating snowfall should be over by Saturday morning when we could see an additional 2-5” on the morning ski report.
As discussed in the last weather narrative, the current storm did indeed leave behind a chunk of energy spinning north of Hawaii earlier in the week, and this will be incorporated into our next incoming storm for around Tuesday which originated in Siberia. This makes the storm unseasonably cold, with current temperatures at about 10,000′ in the -20 F range! But the frigid temperatures will moderate as the storm crosses the Gulf of Alaska through the weekend and mixes with the left-over storm north of Hawaii, so while the storm will be certainly be cold by the time it makes it to our area, we won’t see the current sub-zero temperatures at mountain-top.
Ahead of that storm and behind the Friday storm, we’ll see clouds linger on Saturday, especially at the higher elevations, for a cool day with high temperatures five to ten degrees below our average of 45 F. But lots of sun is forecast for Sunday and Monday with high temperatures in the Yampa Valley on Sunday up to ten degrees above average and an even warmer Monday with temperatures possibly approaching the sixty degree mark.
The Tuesday storm is currently looking significant, with windy conditions likely ahead of the front on Monday and with the front on Monday night. I’ll hold off guessing at snow amounts for a storm five days away, but a strong cold front is likely which will be a shock after possibly the warmest day of the year so far on Monday. Right now, the bulk of the snow looks to fall during Monday night and Tuesday morning, but changes in the speed of the storm will change the period of heaviest snowfall. A trailing wave will keep the cool weather around for Wednesday, along with additional snow showers, before warm and dry springtime weather is forecast to return in a big way for the end of the work week.
Stay tuned to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon when I should have a much better idea of how cold and wet the currently promising Tuesday storm will be.
