Cold and showery weather through the weekend punctuated by Friday night storm
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Temperatures are near thirty degrees in the town of Steamboat Springs and seventeen degrees near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under cloudy skies this Thursday mid-morning. The storm cycle that started Monday afternoon and left sixteen inches at mid-mountain and thirty inches up top so far will continue through the weekend at lighter intensities except for Friday night when a strong cold front passes through and brings periods of moderate to heavy snowfall.
Currently, that storm from near Japan containing very cold air sourced from Siberia I discussed in the Sunday weather narrative is nosing into the Pacific Northwest, and is forcing our current storm to the east. Snow showers will continue just behind the departing storm for today and tonight, though accumulations on the hill be quite light, with only 1-4” expected by the Friday morning mid-mountain ski report.
A short break, if one could call it that, should be over our area Friday morning as the incoming storm mixes with more cold air from western Canada and evolves in a complex manner with two circulation centers. Snow showers should be restarting again by Friday afternoon and become moderate to heavy overnight when a strong cold front passes through ahead of the first circulation center. I would expect 5-10” of fluffy powder at mid-mountain by the cold Saturday morning report, with some of that in the afternoon but most overnight.
Accompanying the cold front will be unseasonably cold temperatures with highs in town in the low to mid-twenties, around twenty degrees below our average of 45 F, and high temperatures near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort in the single digits. Lows will be around zero degrees at all elevations, which is also twenty degrees below our average in town.
Snow showers will continue during the day Saturday for a cold mid-winter feeling day, regardless of what the calendar says, as the first circulation center passes overhead. Though showers may stop for a time from Saturday night through Sunday morning, or not, we could see 2-5” for the Sunday morning report most of which should fall during Saturday.
Snow showers should get going again by Sunday afternoon and overnight on another cold day as the second circulation center passes overhead. While the snows look to end on Monday for a couple of days, the cold temperatures look to stick around for one last day before a ridge of high pressure ahead of the next midweek storm brings warmer, but still below average temperatures on Tuesday. And that ridge of high pressure may bring some periods of sunshine for the sun-starved inhabitants of the Yampa Valley on Monday afternoon and Tuesday.
Be sure to check back on Sunday afternoon for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative where I’ll discuss the departing Sunday storm and how much snow it may leave by Monday morning as well as the next midweek storm.
