Workweek to start hot ahead of good shower chances on Thursday
Sunday, June 23, 2024
Temperatures are in the low eighties, on their way toward the mid-eighties, under mostly sunny skies early this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs. There may be a passing shower today, with a better chance on Monday, as hot temperatures persist through midweek. After a dry Tuesday, shower chances start to ramp up later in the day on a still-hot Wednesday and are maximized on a cooler Thursday.
A stout ridge of high pressure over the southern two-thirds of the country is centered over the central and southern Rockies while a trough of low pressure over Vancouver is moving east. We should see high temperatures in the mid-eighties today, over five degrees above our average of 78 F, with a chance of a passing shower bringing localized brief heavy rain, small hail and gusty winds.
A degree or two of warming is expected on Monday with a better chance of afternoon and evening showers as a disturbance rotates around the high pressure cell over our area and possibly combines with the southern end of the Vancouver storm then moving through the southern Canadian Plains.
Meanshile, a storm currently over the Aleutian Islands is forecast to strengthen in the Gulf of Alaska through Tuesday and strengthen the ridge of high pressure over the Rockies. So look for another degree or two of warming on Tuesday with near-nil shower chances.
The Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast on Wednesday and nudge the Rocky Mountain ridge eastward. Winds from the south on the backside of the high pressure cell will carry moisture pooled over the Mexican Plateau, partly left behind by Tropical Storm Alberto last week, over our area by Wednesday afternoon.
While this pattern contains elements of the North American Monsoon, mainly moisture moving northward around a ridge of high pressure to our east, it is only expected to last through Thursday before the Pacific Northwest storm sweeps through the northern Rockies and brings drier and cooler air for Friday.
So look for increasing shower chances starting in the still-hot Wednesday afternoon, with some showers possibly persisting through the night. Better shower chances are forecast on Thursday as moisture from the south is maximized, dropping our high temperature to an average of 80 F, or even a few degrees cooler depending upon cloud cover.
So, enjoy the hot summertime weather to start the workweek while looking forward to the cooler and wetter weather to end the workweek, and check back for the weekend update in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
