Warming and drying to follow some snow this evening
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Temperatures are in the mid-thirties in Steamboat Springs and the mid-twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort under mostly cloudy skies with peeks of sun this Thursday at noon. An approaching storm will bring some snow to our area later this afternoon and evening, but will be over by Saturday as temperatures warm under mostly sunny skies. Some clouds return Saturday night and Sunday ahead of a weak grazing storm for Monday.
In addition to the 20” of snowfall at mid-mountain and 29” up top collated in Sunday’s weather narrative, another 19” at mid-mountain and 23” up top accumulated through the workweek as of this morning, boosting the upper-mountain base to 108”.
The final storm in this series that started almost two weeks ago has been difficult to forecast, with even the shortest-range weather forecast models still changing. The storm is trending further south, which diminishes the snowfall forecast for our area for the storm’s beginning, and stronger, which diminishes the snowfall forecast for the storm’s end. The storm, in east-central Utah, is forecast to briefly strengthen and form an eddy that moves across central Colorado tonight. The trend further south will limit the energy that moves overhead late this afternoon and this evening, while air moving counter-clockwise around the eddy will bring winds from the east, limiting precipitation after midnight.
So now I expect only 3-6” to be reported by the Friday morning mid-mountain report, with the best snowfall between late this afternoon and midnight. I would not be surprised if the storm under or over-achieves, depending upon its final track and strength, so check the mid-mountain powdercam and the upper-mountain powdercam, or better yet, simply set your SnowAlarm. There may be some flurries to start Friday, but a weakening ridge of high pressure is forecast to move through our area from later Friday through midday Saturday bringing periods of sun and high temperatures around freezing on Friday and several degrees below our average of 37 F on Saturday.
Even as a weak and splitting wave crosses the West Coast Friday night and moves around our area starting later Saturday, bringing some clouds for Saturday night and Sunday, temperatures are expected to reach the upper-thirties on Sunday and low-forties on Monday.
A weak wave in the northward-migrating jet stream may bring some high-elevation snow flurries on Monday, with uncertainty high for a possible quick-moving midweek storm in our favorable northwest flow.
Let’s hope the incoming storm is more productive than forecast, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for more details on the possible midweek storm.
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