Work week to see slim shower chances and increasing temperatures
Sunday, July 21, 2024
After reaching the low-seventies around noon this Sunday in Steamboat Springs, temperatures have fallen into the sixties behind some early afternoon thunderstorms. Shower chances will persist today on the coolest day of the week before steadily rising high temperatures approach ninety degrees by Thursday. Only slim shower chances exist through Thursday before monsoonal moisture returns by Friday.
As was the case this past week, a stout ridge of high pressure extending from the Mexican Plateau through the Intermountain West toward the Arctic Circle is sandwiched between areas of low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska and Hudson Bay. Fortunately for us, cool air traveling southward along the east side of the ridge has kept the hottest temperatures to our west, and has carried some moisture overhead today that will keep chances for additional showers through the early evening. If we see some afternoon sun, high temperatures may approach eighty degrees, otherwise, we may be left with the noontime high which would be ten degrees below our average of 84 F.
The Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to slowly wobble ashore along the southern British Columbia coast through midweek and nudge the ridge of high pressure toward our area. Weakening winds from the north will carry increasingly dry and warm air overhead through midweek, with high temperatures reaching average by Tuesday and upper-eighties by Wednesday.
By Thursday, the Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to be moving along the Canadian border, pushing the top of the ridge eastward and over our area even as the bottom of the ridge remains stubbornly entrenched over the Desert Southwest. Light winds from the west will carry the warmest air of the week overhead on Thursday with high temperatures approaching ninety degrees.
By Friday, the ridge of high pressure will be tilted from the Desert Southwest toward the Great Lakes, allowing winds from the southwest to carry monsoonal moisture overhead. We could see high temperatures drop back toward average on Friday with good shower chances that would persist heading into the weekend.
So enjoy the cool start to the work week, and check back for more details on the weekend weather in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
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