Snow to continue into Tuesday with another chance on Thursday
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Some sun has broken out late this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs with temperatures near thirty degrees in town and ten degrees near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Snowfall chances will continue into Tuesday as the current storm departs and the next storm approaches, though snowfall amounts related to the second storm will be light. A break in the weather highlighted by a frigid Wednesday morning will be over by Thursday as another storm brings a round of light snowfall.
In addition to the seven inches reported at mid-mountain this morning and fifteen inches up top, four inches of snow fell at mid-mountain since the report. While the current storm has already moved across the Kansas - Missouri border, show showers have continued in the favorable cool, moist and unstable northwest flow behind the storm. As subtle embedded waves move overhead, we could see another 3-6” of snow overnight which would be added to this morning’s accumulated snow.
Light snow showers will continue Monday morning ahead of the next storm crossing the Oregon coast this evening. The storm will mix with some arctic air from western Canada, and even though the storm is forecast to move through Nevada Monday night, a cold front sweeping through our area Monday afternoon should keep snow showers going into Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. Accumulations by the Tuesday morning report will likely only be in the 2-5” range.
Unfortunately, thanks to the storm’s location to our southwest, we will see easterly winds by Monday night or early Tuesday morning, shutting off the precipitation as air downslopes off the Park Range. Winds could be gusting to 30 mph by late Tuesday morning, making lift rides on westerly-facing chairlifts quite unpleasant.
Some dry air behind the storm and ahead of our next storm for Thursday will combine with the arctic air mass to bring frigid subzero temperatures for Wednesday morning, with lows in town forecast to be between -5 F and -15 F, well below our 4 F average. Mountain-top temperatures are forecast to be a bit warmer, but still between 0 F and -10 F.
Though high temperatures are forecast to rise to the low-twenties in town on Wednesday, similar to Tuesday and Thursday and below our average of 28 F, I would not be surprised to see them mired in the teens despite mostly sunny skies due to such a cold start to the day.
A weak wave of energy and moisture is then forecast to move through a quickly building ridge of high pressure over the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday and bring light snow chances back to our area on Thursday. After another break in the weather Friday, a stronger storm is forecast for the weekend.
So enjoy the wintry week, and I’ll have more details on the storm for next weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
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