Snow to return by midweek
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Temperatures are in the upper twenties in Steamboat Springs and mid-teens near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under clear skies late this Sunday morning. A quick-moving and weakening storm will bring increasing clouds and breezes later Monday with a chance for some light showers. A colder and stronger storm will bring good chances for significant snowfall later Tuesday through Wednesday with unsettled weather forecast for the rest of the work week.
A broad ridge of high pressure is currently over the west central U.S. and Canadian Plains while troughs of low pressure are over the Gulf of Alaska and the Great Lakes. We should see another beautiful day today with mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in town right around our average of 43 F.
Meanwhile, a splitting wave rotating out of the Gulf of Alaska trough is forecast to cross the West Coast tonight and the Great Basin during the day Monday before moving over Colorado Monday night. Winds from the southwest will allow temperatures to rise a few degrees into the mid-forties and create breezy conditions by Monday afternoon with mountain-top winds gusting to as high as 40 mph. There may be some light snow showers on the hill overnight Monday with only light accumulations possible.
There will likely be some clearing and even some sun possible Tuesday morning before another upstream wave currently over the Aleutian Islands mixes with some cold air from Alaska later today and crosses the Pacific Northwest coast on Monday. Similar to Monday, expect increasing breezes and clouds Tuesday after noon as the storm approaches with showers breaking out later in the day.
There may be a rain-snow mix in town if the showers get going in the late afternoon or early evening, though the cold front associated with the storm will bring all snow overnight and Wednesday. We could see 2-5” of snow for the Wednesday morning mid-mountain ski report with another 2-5” falling during the day. High temperatures in town will fall into the mid-thirties on Wednesday with several inches of snow expected between Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
But there is some uncertainty with snowfall amounts on Wednesday and Wednesday night as the storm is forecast to split over the Great Basin by Wednesday night, with the southern end forming an eddy that drifts southward over the Desert Southwest by Thursday. We could see another 1-4” Wednesday night on the hill with unsettled weather continuing behind the storm on a similarly cool Thursday and slightly warmer Friday.
There looks to be a break in the unsettled weather later Friday into Saturday, though a grazing storm may bring the unsettled weather back to our area around mid-weekend. Be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for more details on the coming weekend weather.
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