Dry cool front to arrive Friday evening
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Temperatures are in the upper eighties this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs, with gusty winds from the southwest carrying smoke from the Elk and Lee wildfires, discovered Saturday near Meeker, through the area. The southern end of a storm rotating through the Northern Rockies will drag a cool front through our area Friday evening, but not before bringing an even windier day on Friday. Low eighty-degree temperatures and decreasing wind are forecast for the weekend, with air quality uncertain.
Unsurprisingly, the Meeker fires have exploded today, with the Lee fire mapped at 45,000 acres and the Elk fire at 14,000 acres as of noon. The newly formed Twelve wildfire, discovered yesterday just east of Dinosaur National Monument, is over 4,000 acres and will be a potential smoke source for our area if winds are from the west.
The winds are the result of air accelerating between an area of low pressure rotating through the Northern Rockies and an area of high pressure extending westward from Texas across the Desert Southwest. Unfortunately, even stronger winds, still from the southwest, are forecast for Friday as the northern storm moves over the Continental Divide. Clouds ahead of a grazing cool front Friday evening may keep our high temperatures several degrees cooler than today, in the mid-eighties, just above our average of eighty-three degrees.
Winds should briefly turn to northwesterly or northerly behind the front, at least temporarily clearing smoke from the area, according to the NOAA Smoke Plume model, which is run four times a day for forty-eight hours. High temperatures in the low eighties will be accompanied by much lighter winds on Saturday, with trailing energy behind the storm bringing afternoon clouds and a secondary cool front later in the day or evening, keeping Sunday’s high temperatures in the low eighties.
Ordinarily, a pleasant weekend weather forecast, though the air quality is uncertain. Check the NOAA Smoke Plume model before your outdoor activities, as well as the Purple Air widget on the SnowAlarm homepage.
Unfortunately, high temperatures are forecast to return to the upper-eighties by Tuesday as a ridge of high pressure builds over the West behind the departing storm. Some monsoonal moisture may be carried overhead after midweek, though the weather forecast models are not very convincing at this point. Enjoy the cooler weekend, hope the smoke stays away, and I’ll have more details about a possible push of monsoonal moisture in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
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