Dry weather continues with some cooling to start the weekend

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Temperatures are in the low seventies under mostly sunny skies late this Thursday morning in Steamboat Springs. After another hot day today in the upper eighties, temperatures cool into the low eighties on Friday and Saturday before they warm toward the hottest day of the summer so far on Monday. Precipitation chances are nil through the weekend until some moisture sneaks into the region around midweek.

A flat and dry ridge of high pressure currently over the West is bookended by low pressure areas extending south from both the Gulf of Alaska and Hudson Bay. Cool air brought southward on the backside of the Hudson Bay low will graze our area and knock about five degrees off our high temperatures of the last few days as they cool to around our average of 83 F on Friday and 84 F on Saturday.

Incidentally, 84 F marks the highest average temperature of the summer, making the weeks between mid July and early August climatologically the hottest of the year.

And after a couple of days in the low eighties, Sunday’s high temperatures move back to the mid-eighties with Monday forecast to be the warmest day of the summer so far with our first ninety degree day. There is some relief by Tuesday as that Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to move across the northern United States through the early work week and bring at least some mid and upper level moisture and clouds starting around Tuesday.

Eventually, longer term weather forecast models have that Gulf of Alaska storm merging with the Hudson Bay vortex around the end of the next work week, and that may force a ridge of high pressure to build over the West. This may allow moisture from the south to move northward over our area in what would be the beginning of our North American Monsoon, though that is uncertain as it is over a week away.

Enjoy what is looking like a very pleasant summer weekend, and I’ll be back with my regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon where I’ll discuss our precipitation chances from the incoming moisture.