Cold front to bring snow Friday night
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Temperatures are in the upper thirties in Steamboat Springs and the mid-twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under mostly sunny skies late this Thursday morning. The warm temperatures this week will persist through Friday ahead of a cold front Friday evening bringing another round of windy conditions Friday afternoon, snow Friday night, and seasonable temperatures for the rest of the weekend.
The small storm that was possible in my last weather narrative did not materialize as there turned out to be only enough moisture for some clouds. So we are left with a mostly sunny day with high temperatures reaching the forties, well above our average of 32 F. In fact, this whole workweek has been delightfully warm after our record cold temperatures two weeks ago, with both Monday and Tuesday breaking average temperature records for the date thanks to overnight lows well above our average of 6 F. The daily average temperature, calculated by averaging the high and low temperature for the day, was 41.5 F on Monday, breaking the 2018 record by three degrees, and 38.5 on Tuesday, breaking the 1953 record by two degrees. As warm as it felt, the high temperature on Monday was 53 F, shy of the 56 F record set in 1930, while the Tuesday high of 47 F was ten degrees cooler than the 57 F record set in 1934.
A storm previously off the coast of Vancouver has elongated to the southwest as it moved southward off the Pacific Northwest coast this week. A wave of energy and cold air moving around a building ridge of high pressure extending south from Alaska will dislodge the bulk of the storm eastward, bringing first clouds and wind during the day Friday ahead of a cold front Friday evening.
On another warm Friday, mountaintop winds could reach 60 mph from the west-southwest Friday afternoon, perhaps causing some lift issues similar to Wednesday. There may be some high-elevation snow showers ahead of the front, but moderate to sometimes heavy snows should occur along and behind the cold Friday evening and overnight under diminishing winds.
Cold air, with mountaintop temperatures falling to the low single digits and winds shifting to our favorable northwest direction, should allow 6-12” of snow to accumulate at mid-mountain by the Saturday morning ski report, and perhaps create periods of difficult overnight travel over Rabbit Ears Pass.
High temperatures in town look to fall from the forties on Friday into the twenties on Saturday, with low temperatures heading back down to single digits by Sunday morning. After some clearing on Saturday, another much smaller piece of the Pacific Northwest storm may bring some snow showers overnight, with perhaps 1-4” possible by the Sunday morning report.
There may be some clearing on Sunday, but cool and unsettled weather looks to persist into the workweek as a wave of energy from eastern Siberia moves over the Alaskan ridge of high pressure, encouraging cold air from a vortex of low pressure over Hudson Bay to move southwestward across the Canadian Plains and toward our area. So enjoy the gorgeous day today, be prepared for a return to wintry conditions this weekend, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for more details on the continued wintry weather.
