Cold temperatures to continue with a moderate storm for Saturday
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Temperatures are in the low twenties in Steamboat Springs and at seven degrees near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort this Thursday mid-afternoon under mostly cloudy skies. Another frigid day on Friday will precede a moderate storm on Saturday that will linger into Sunday. Other than overnight low temperatures warming on Saturday morning thanks to the insulating effects of the storm clouds, cold temperatures will stick around with high temperatures below our average of twenty-nine degrees, which incidentally is now slowly rising due to increasing daylight, through the weekend and into next week.
A small storm last night left about two inches at mid-mountain at the Steamboat Ski Resort, and a quickly-moving ridge of high pressure will eventually bring mostly clear skies through Friday. We could see another frigid night tonight if skies clear completely, but perhaps not as cold as the -14 F observed Wednesday morning at the Bob Adams airport and the -18 F at my weather station near the ski area’s base.
Meanwhile, a storm in the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast Friday afternoon and move through the Great Basin on Saturday as it elongates to the southwest. Snow showers should begin after midnight Friday and become moderate to heavy at times starting before sunrise Saturday and continuing through the day along and behind the cold front.
Snowfall by the Saturday morning report will depend upon the front’s timing, but we could see 3-6” at mid-mountain with another 3-6” during the day. In addition to the snowfall on Saturday, there could be another 1-4” by the Sunday morning report as snow showers slowly taper off in our favorable cold, moist and unstable northwest flow behind the storm.
Other than the Saturday morning temperatures in town moving to above our average of four degrees thanks, ironically, to the cold front, high temperatures in town will not make it above the low-twenties, and the single digits at mountaintop. In fact, current forecasts have temperatures at mountaintop slowly falling from around ten degrees just before the cold front early Saturday morning to minus five degrees by Sunday morning, punctuated by winds from the west gusting to 40 mph for several hours centered around Saturday noon.
Waves of cold air spinning around a vortex of low pressure near Hudson Bay will keep the cold, mostly cloudy and sometimes showery weather around through Monday before a ridge of high pressure begins to move in early in the workweek. So bundle up for the continued wintry days ahead, hope for more snow than forecast, and check back for more details on the amount and elevation of the midweek warming in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
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