Some snow to bookend a pleasant Saturday
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Temperatures are in the low twenties in town and mid-twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under bluebird skies this Thursday noon. A pleasant Saturday will be sandwiched by two storms with limited moisture, bringing some snowfall on Friday and Sunday.
The early week storm produced 7.5” at mid-mountain between Sunday and Tuesday evenings, with 19” up top thanks to cold, unstable and just-moist-enough flow from the west and our favorable northwest direction. In fact, 4” of snow was recorded in just 40 minutes at the Steamboat Powdercam during the heaviest shower just before sunset on Monday.
The clear skies and calm winds Wednesday night led to another temperature inversion this morning, with my weather station near the base of the ski area recording a low of -2 F compared to the low of 15 F at the Storm Peak Lab, as breezes from the west and southwest warmed the higher elevations.
An approaching storm now over the West Coast will bring a chance of light snow starting around noon on Friday and lasting into the evening, with accumulations expected to be 1-4” at mid-mountain.
A quick-moving ridge of high pressure behind the departing storm and ahead of a storm forecast to develop off the West Coast on Friday will be overhead on Saturday for a pleasant day with mostly sunny skies. The storm is forecast to weaken as it crosses the Great Basin on Saturday, but enough moisture should be left to bring another 3-6” of accumulations at mid-mountain between early Sunday morning and Sunday evening.
Another storm is forecast to develop south of the Aleutian Islands during the weekend as subtropical moisture mixes with some cold air breaking away from eastern Siberia. High pressure ridging ahead of the eastward-moving storm should bring a dry start to the workweek with snow chances beginning as early as Tuesday as the Aleutian storm approaches.
Enjoy the nice Saturday and the new snow on either side, and I’ll have more details about the midweek storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
