Weather to improve for the weekend
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-forties and stout winds from the east are over the Steamboat Springs area this Thursday mid-afternoon. After the last three wintry days, spring weather returns starting today as temperatures slowly warm through the weekend. And though we will see decreasing clouds with some sun in the mornings, chances for afternoon showers remain.
The storm that abruptly brought wintry weather back to our area Sunday night has split in a rare longitudinal direction, with the western part of the storm currently west of our area and responsible for the unusual easterly winds. The storm brought snow and very cold temperatures to our area for three days in a row, with Tuesday registering the coldest high temperature for the date of only 35 F, which broke the previous record of 37 F set in 1978. Monday would have been close too except that the day’s high temperature occurred at midnight, just before the cold front barreled through the area.
The storm is forecast to continue moving west through Friday, before moving east again after reaching Las Vegas Friday night. While the easterly winds will diminish through Friday, energy and moisture rotating around the storm will keep the clouds around on Friday with afternoon showers likely. High temperatures will warm from around fifty degrees today to the mid-fifties on Friday, which is still almost ten degrees below our average of 63 F.
The storm is forecast to be over the Four Corners by later Saturday, so we may see some sun in the morning before afternoon showers are again likely, though precipitation will be heaviest and longest lasting over central and southern Colorado. High temperatures will increase a bit too as they approach sixty degrees.
The storm moves across central and southern Colorado on Sunday, with perhaps more sun in the morning and several degrees of warming from Saturday. And even though the storm is then forecast to be moving through Kansas, afternoon showers with high temperatures in the upper sixties are expected on Monday.
But a piece of a cold storm currently over the Aleutian Islands is expected to approach our area by Tuesday or Wednesday. There is weather forecast model disagreement on the speed and strength of the storm, so be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for more details on the approaching storm.
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