Here comes Harold with unsettled weather to follow for the weekend
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Temperatures are approaching eighty degrees under mostly sunny skies in the Steamboat Springs area this Thursday mid afternoon. But clouds are building as the remnants of tropical storm Harold move northward from the Four Corners region, with good rainfall expected from later today through Friday night as the former tropical storm moves overhead. Saturday should be a quieter day, but still with good chances for storms, and though more drying is forecast for Sunday, we may still see good chances for showers as a weak cool front approaches our area.
A broad ridge of high pressure is still entrenched over the the Gulf States, though its northern extent has been recently limited by storm systems traveling along the Canadian border. But the key feature for our area to start the weekend is the remnants of the former tropical storm Harold, which developed from that easterly wave I discussed in the last weather narrative.
The remnants are currently just north of the Four Corners region and are forecast to move first north and then east across our area on Friday. While good showers will be possible from later this afternoon through Friday night, the best chance for the strongest thunderstorms will be in the afternoons and evenings of both days. High temperatures will fall to the low seventies on Friday, a bit more than five degrees below our average of 80 F thanks to the abundance of clouds and showers.
The remnants of Harold will be east of our area by Saturday, but the the rich moisture will be slow to leave so the chance for afternoon and evening storms will remain. A wave of energy currently in the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to quickly move across the Canadian border early in the weekend and intensify over the Great Lakes by Monday, shifting our winds to be from the northwest and bringing a grazing cool front near our area by late Sunday. So while Sunday will be drier than Saturday, there may still be chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
There is some uncertainty about this cool front, and thunderstorms may linger on Monday before drier air makes it back into the area by later Tuesday. It’s been a while since we had a generally gray and showery day over our area, so enjoy the break in the hot weather tomorrow, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for more details about the weather for next week.
