Beautiful weather for most of the work week

Sunday, January 9, 2022

A crisp and beautiful day is over the Steamboat Springs area with noontime temperatures in the mid-teens this Sunday and nary a cloud in sight. A quiet weather pattern will settle over the West for most of the work week with plenty of sun and warming temperatures ahead of some possibly unsettled weather as we head into the weekend.

After a two and a half week stormy period thanks to a ridge of high pressure near the Dateline that directed cold air and storm energy over our area, lots of sun and warming temperatures are forecast for most of the work week as a ridge of high pressure settles over the West. High temperatures today will be several degrees below our average of 27 F before warming into the thirties through Thursday while low temperatures will be around our average of 3 F.

While we enjoy some beautiful weather, a series of storms are forecast to move around a developing area of low pressure south of the Aleutian Islands, with the first storm being deflected into the Pacific Northwest as it encounters the West Coast ridge. While most of this storm will not have any effect on our weather, the southern part of the storm is forecast to form an eddy that will meander off the coast of Baja for several days. and this may be a player by Friday.

But the next storm, which should cross the Pacific Northwest coast on Thursday will turn our weather unsettled by Friday. This storm looks to split, with weather forecast models struggling with the amount of energy partitioned between the northern and southern parts of the split, and whether that Baja eddy is incorporated into the storm.

Right now, it looks like light snowfall may be possible as soon as Friday, but that forecast may change as the approaching storms get closer. So stay tuned to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon where I’ll discuss the weather for the weekend.