Wintry weather to arrive later Monday
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Temperatures are in the fifties in the town of Steamboat Springs and the forties near the top of the Steamboat Resort under sparkling blue skies late this Sunday morning. After another gorgeous spring day today and a similar start to Monday, an approaching wintry storm will bring snows back to our area by Monday night with significant high-elevation accumulations expected by Tuesday. Cool and unsettled weather looks to last into the weekend as another cool storm impacts our area starting by Wednesday night.
A wintry storm in the form of an eddy is currently sliding down the southern California coast and is forecast to move across the Great Basin through Monday and Colorado Monday night. High temperatures today will likely be the warmest of the last several warm days with upper sixties predicted, which is almost fifteen degrees above our average of 54 F.
After another nice start to Monday, clouds will increase after noon ahead of the approaching storm with showers breaking out later in the day. Showers should become moderate to heavy overnight as the eddy passes near our area and intensifies to our east thanks to moisture incorporated from the Gulf of Mexico. Winds will shift from the south ahead of the storm to the northwest and north by Monday night behind the storm with moderate to heavy showers continuing through the morning as the Gulf of Mexico moisture wraps around the backside of the storm.
Snowfall rates over an inch per hour at times will make travel difficult over Rabbit Ears Pass between Monday night and Tuesday noon, with 4-8” of snow expected for the Monday morning mid-mountain ski report and another 3-6” between report time and Monday afternoon. The precipitation in town will be a mix of rain and snow, with the heavier showers leaving an inch or two in town by Tuesday morning with high temperatures struggling to reach fifty degrees.
We should see a break in the precipitation later Tuesday into Wednesday, though the clouds may stick around with high temperatures in town rising into the fifties. But another cold storm currently moving through the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to move through the Pacific Northwest and at least graze our area by later Wednesday or Thursday, with a stationary front possibly setting up over our area through the rest of the work week and into the Closing Weekend of the Steamboat Resort.
There is a fair bit of uncertainty with how strong this front is and how long it will reside near or over our area, but at least some additional snowfall is possible. So enjoy what looks like another powder day on Tuesday, and be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for more details on the Closing Weekend weather.
