Slowly warming temperatures with little hope for snow this weekend

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Temperatures are only in the mid teens under brilliant blue skies in Steamboat Springs this Thursday noon and on their way to the mid twenties. There is very little hope for precipitation this weekend with the current sunny weather continuing through Friday before clouds move overhead for most of Saturday and Sunday.

The storm that left around 28” of snow at the Steamboat Ski Resort from Saturday afternoon through Christmas Day is currently spinning in the Midwest while a ridge of high pressure sits over the Intermountain West ahead of another storm extending south from the Gulf of Alaska. Both low and high temperatures will moderate through the weekend and rise above the coldest averages of the year, which are 4 F for the low temperature and 28 F for the high temperature.

Some warming will be due to the relatively warm air mass under the ridge of high pressure, with temperatures reaching the mid thirties on Saturday and Sunday. More significant warming for the overnight temperatures on Saturday and more so on Sunday will occur from clouds invading the area ahead of the remnants of the approaching Gulf of Alaska storm and acting like a blanket to trap heat.

Unfortunately, the storm is forecast to split as it crosses the West Coast on Saturday, with the southern end of the split falling apart as it interacts with the ridge of high pressure over the Intermountain West. What is left of the storm may combine with a wave traveling down the east side of the ridge to bring a small chance of snow showers on Sunday, though accumulations currently look hard to come by.

A somewhat chaotic weather pattern is forecast to continue for the first week of the new year as a couple of incoming Pacific storms are also forecast to split as they approach the West Coast. Again, precipitation chances are very limited, with passing clouds the most likely outcome as the storms move south of our area early and late in the first week of the year.

Enjoy the current sunny weather, and be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon where I hope to have better news on our snow potential.