Back to normal summer weather for the weekend
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Temperatures are approaching the mid-seventies this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs under mostly sunny skies after a cool forty-degree start to the day. The rains could not stay away today as a mid-morning shower made it seven days in a row with rain, and eight days out of the last nine. But normal summer weather returns for the weekend as temperatures rise into the eighties, and a dry Friday will be followed by another surge of monsoonal moisture for the second half of the weekend.
We were a few hundredths below the average of 0.7” through last weekend for the first ten days of August, and the estimated three-quarters of an inch of rain since then should put us well on the way to the August average of 1.8”. This is good news since July was short of the average 1.72” by about two-thirds of an inch.
Another strong storm developing in the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to be off the northern California coast by Saturday. A ridge of high pressure is forecast to build over the West ahead of the storm, and after a chance for some passing showers this afternoon thanks to lingering moisture, we should see a sunny, dry and very pleasant Friday with temperatures right at our average of 82 F.
As the Gulf of Alaska storm approaches the northern California coast, the ridge of high pressure will be nudged to the east, allowing more monsoonal moisture to be pulled toward our area from the south on the backside of the ridge. The high temperature on Saturday should rise toward 85 F before chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms return, with better chances on Sunday as high temperatures first cool back to average and Monday as high temperatures cool further toward eighty degrees.
Our weather for the rest of the week will be determined by how the storm off the northern coast of California interacts with the ridge of high pressure, and whether the ridge stays far enough east to continue the flow of monsoonal moisture or moves far enough west to sever the monsoonal connection.
So enjoy the pleasant start to the weekend, and check back for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for more details on how long the monsoonal moisture may stick around.
