Beautiful early fall weather ahead
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Fall was shepherded into the Steamboat Springs area Saturday afternoon by a blustery storm short on precipitation. Cool and unstable air behind the storm will keep some clouds around for the first day of fall this Sunday with high temperatures in the mid-sixties. Even though Monday will start sunny, we should see afternoon clouds ahead of a grazing cold front early Tuesday that will keep temperatures below seventy degrees. But mostly sunny skies with high temperatures reaching seventy degrees on Tuesday and upper-seventies starting Wednesday promise a beautiful stretch of weather lasting into the weekend.
Hopes for a dusting of snow at the top of the Steamboat Ski Area last night were dashed by a storm that traveled a bit further south than forecast. We were left with gusty winds reaching 43 mph at the Bob Adams airport and 62 mph at the Storm Peak Lab with an easterly component that squashed most precipitation, thanks to downsloping off the Park Range. Most of town received about five-hundredths of an inch of rain, and no precipitation occurred at the top of the ski area in time for the freezing temperatures which arrived just before midnight.
Fortunately, fall color has only started to appear, and most leaves were left on the trees for what promises to be a great show thanks to the rapidly appearing color. We should see a mix of sun and clouds this Sunday with high temperatures in the mid-sixties, about five degrees below our rapidly falling average of 71 F.
A cold front forecast by the European ECMWF to be more impactful in previous model interations will end up only grazing our area early Tuesday morning, similar to the American GFS, bringing some Monday afternoon clouds after a sunny but chilly start. Low temperatures Monday should fall to just below our average of 34 F with high temperatures a few degrees warmer than today.
But a ridge of high pressure is forecast to build over the West behind the grazing front starting Tuesday and lasting into the following weekend. Despite our average high temperatures falling to 69 F by Thursday, mostly sunny skies will allow high temperatures to reach the upper-seventies starting Wednesday and continuing into the weekend.
Low temperatures will also rise, but still remain below forty degrees, leading to quintessential Colorado early fall weather with warm sunny days and crisp cool nights, ideal for both producing and viewing the fall color spectacle.
So enjoy the perfect weather window this week, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative Thursday afternoon to see if this lasts through next weekend.
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