Beautiful weather to continue through Saturday
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Another bluebird day is over the Steamboat Springs area this Thursday noon with temperatures in the mid-twenties in town and upper-twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Similar weather is expected through Saturday before an incoming storm brings precipitation chances as early as Sunday and colder temperatures for Monday and Tuesday.
A ridge of high pressure is currently over most of the West while a large storm is located over the Aleutian Islands. Energy ejecting from the storm will weaken the ridge of high pressure and allow the storm’s remnants to begin affecting the Pacific Northwest on Saturday as it moves across the Gulf of Alaska. That means continued beautiful weather through at least the beginning of the weekend, with cold mornings in town thanks to the persistence of a temperature inversion caused by clear nighttime skies, calm winds and recent snow cover.
The storm is expected to mix with cold air from western Canada and split as it moves through the Great Basin on Sunday, with weather forecast models indicating uncertainty regarding how much cold air makes it over our area on Sunday. The larger-scale and longer-term models have the cold air staying away from our area on Sunday, while the medium-scale, medium-term model have a cold front moving through by Sunday afternoon.
We will see snow with the cold front, whether it moves in on Sunday or Monday, though amounts at this time look quite modest due to the quick movement of the storm and its limited moisture. What is more certain is that the cold front will first break the low-level temperature inversion thanks to increased winds and the resultant mechanical mixing which brings warmer air aloft down to the surface. But any relief will be short-lived as the very cold air settles overhead on Monday and Tuesday, with high temperatures in town only in the low-twenties or high-teens, well below our 31 F average.
I’m reserving a snowfall guess for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon as forecast amounts are inconsistent both between and within the various weather forecast models. Until then, be sure to enjoy this stretch of beautiful early-December weather.
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