Cold and wet weather to start the workweek, with First Snow possible
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Temperatures are in the upper sixties with partly sunny skies this Sunday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. An approaching Pacific Northwest storm commemorating the autumnal equinox, which occurs at 2:19 pm on Monday, will bring cool and wet fall weather to start the workweek. Along with showers lingering on a cool Tuesday, we may see the first dusting of snow atop the Steamboat Ski Area on Tuesday morning. But any snowfall won’t last for long as warming temperatures and mostly sunny skies are forecast to start on Wednesday and last into next weekend.
A storm in the Pacific Northwest will move through Idaho tonight and split on Monday, with the southern end of the storm briefly forming an eddy that moves over western Colorado on Tuesday. Weather forecast models have struggled with the evolution of this storm for a while, only recently settling on a further west and wetter solution, as is often the case with Pacific Northwest storms.
We should be able to eke out another seventy-degree day today, right near our average of seventy-one degrees, before cool air begins to filter into the region on Monday. A good chance of thunderstorms will precede the cool air tonight ahead of the storm, with a lesser chance on Monday as high temperatures only reach the mid-sixties.
While the bulk of the storm will move southward to the west of the Continental Divide, showers are likely along and behind a cold front late Monday afternoon or early evening, lasting through the night and into Tuesday. Temperatures up top fall toward freezing overnight and early Tuesday morning, meaning we may see the First Snow of the season atop the Steamboat Ski Area.
While we won’t see those snowflakes in town, we won’t escape the very fall-like weather on Tuesday, with morning showers that may extend into the afternoon and high temperatures mired in the mid-fifties. By Tuesday afternoon, though, the counter-clockwise winds around the eddy to our south will bring gusty easterly winds, drying the air as it downslopes off the Park Range to our east and ending the showers.
The storm is expected to quickly exit the state by Tuesday night, allowing a ridge of high pressure to build overhead starting Wednesday. Clear skies with lots of sun will allow temperatures to rebound into the upper sixties on Wednesday and back into the low seventies for Thursday, beginning a period of quintessential Colorado fall weather that may last through next weekend.
The foliage is rapidly changing, with great color above 9,000′, as shown in the pictures I took while mountain biking at the Steamboat Ski Resort on Saturday, as well as in the lower-elevation drainages. The show should continue through next week, with the views of the high-elevation aspen possibly dependent on the wind associated with the storm. Be sure to take advantage of Colorful Colorado, and I’ll have more weekend details in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Nice Friday to be followed by an unsettled weekend
Thursday, September 18, 2025
Temperatures are in the comfortable mid-sixties with sunny skies this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. Warmer temperatures on Friday will be accompanied by increasing clouds as moisture from the remnants of a tropical disturbance begins moving overhead, increasing shower chances during a mild weekend.
The storm system that brought as much as a tenth of an inch of rain over the last several days and our first early-morning frost of the season is now in the Dakotas, allowing a transient ridge of high pressure to build over the Rockies ahead of a low pressure area off the coast of California. Moisture from the remnants of former Tropical Cyclone Mario has been injected into some energy ejecting from the California low, bringing afternoon clouds on Friday as high temperatures rise toward seventy-five degrees, just above our average of seventy-two degrees.
The moisture and incoming Pacific energy will conspire to bring a chance for showers on both Saturday and Sunday, most likely later Saturday into Sunday morning. The mild air mass means high temperatures will be most affected by periods of afternoon cloudiness, falling to near average on Saturday and around seventy degrees on Sunday.
Meanwhile, cold air moving through the Bering Sea will strengthen a storm forecast to develop in the Gulf of Alaska on Saturday. This storm was originally forecast to graze our area on Monday, but weather forecast models are struggling to accurately predict the amount of cold air that will enter the storm, affecting the weather forecast for the start of the workweek.
That uncertainty will be better resolved in time for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy the nice start to the weekend and the rapidly developing fall colors.
Pleasant weather ahead and behind a midweek storm
Sunday, September 14, 2025
After several days of cool and wet weather, the sky is clearing, with temperatures around sixty degrees early this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs. A nice Monday will be followed by unsettled weather ahead of and behind a cold front later Tuesday, lasting through Wednesday. A warming trend begins Thursday, leading to a nice start to next weekend.
Over a half-inch of rain fell between Thursday and today, with the season’s first snowflakes falling at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort for a short time Saturday evening, and a dusting of snow atop Chet’s Dream chairlift at Loveland this morning.
The departing storm has allowed the sky to clear, though the cool air mass behind the storm will keep high temperatures in the upper sixties, below our average of seventy-four degrees.
However, another storm that crossed the Pacific Northwest coast earlier today quickly follows. A transient ridge of high pressure ahead of the storm means a pleasant day on Monday with high temperatures approaching our average.
As the storm moves across Idaho on Monday, a stationary front forms along the Colorado-Wyoming border, bringing increasing clouds on Tuesday with high temperatures knocked back toward seventy degrees. The front will transition into a cold front by Tuesday afternoon or evening, bringing showers that will continue overnight and Wednesday, with high temperatures on Wednesday back to the mid-sixties.
Like the past storm, a ridge of high pressure over the central U.S. will remain strong enough to hinder the storm’s eastward motion, stalling it over Nebraska, with a chance of showers possible on Thursday afternoon. However, temperatures will rebound, with high temperatures returning to the low seventies.
Meanwhile, another storm developing in the Gulf of Alaska is forecast to make landfall along the British Columbia coast midweek. The storm will likely split, with the bulk of the storm moving across the U.S.-Canadian border and forcing the Nebraska storm eastward into the Midwest. While we should see a beautiful, mostly sunny Friday, with high temperatures rising into the mid-seventies, the amount of energy in the southern part of the split, which forms an eddy off the coast of California, may determine our chances for showers next weekend.
Enjoy the beautiful days today and Monday, hope for more rain from the midweek storm, and I’ll have more details on shower chances for the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Showers to continue ahead and behind a Friday night cold front
Thursday, September 11, 2025
After a brief shower just after noon on this Thursday in Steamboat Springs, temperatures have cooled from the mid-seventies to the low seventies by mid-afternoon. The first cold front of our season will pass through Friday night, with showers continuing through Saturday ahead and behind the front. High temperatures will cool from the low-seventies on Friday to only the high sixties for the weekend. Sunday may be nice, or not, depending on the speed of the storm as it passes over the Rocky Mountains.
A large storm is lumbering through the West while the high pressure that was overhead this past week has been pushed to the central U.S. A robust plume of monsoonal moisture has been drawn overhead by southwest winds ahead of the storm and behind the high pressure, leading to the showery weather so far today as waves of energy eject from the storm.
More of the same is forecast for the rest of today, tonight, and Friday as the storm approaches, with strong thunderstorms possible. A cold front is then forecast on Friday night as the leading part of the storm rotates through our area. The ridge of high pressure will deflect the storm northward, even as additional energy behind the storm brings more showers, perhaps not starting until the afternoon, on a much cooler fall-like Saturday.
High temperatures will only reach the mid-to-upper sixties, below our average of seventy-four degrees, with showers continuing Saturday night. Snow levels decrease from 12,000′ Saturday morning to 11,000′ by Sunday morning, perhaps leaving a dusting of snow on the high peaks around us, but more likely on the higher mountains of central and southern Colorado, with even a few inches possible there.
We may see a nice Sunday if the storm continues moving through our area, but some weather forecast models have the storm lingering as high pressure to our east maintains its strength. Enjoy what will be our first fall-like weekend of the season, and take advantage of the windows of opportunity to get outside between the showers. I’ll have details on what looks like a nice start to the workweek, and possibly a midweek storm, in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Workweek to start warm and showery and end cool and showery
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Comfortable temperatures just above seventy degrees, on their way to the mid-seventies, and partly cloudy skies are over Steamboat Springs early this Sunday afternoon. Several weak disturbances in advance of a strong and cold storm well off the coast of northern California will bring a chance of showers to start the workweek, starting this evening. The advancing storm will bring breezy winds and increasing moisture by Thursday, with its eventual track determining how much cold air we see and whether showers linger into next weekend.
A ridge of high pressure is over the Rockies, while a strong and cold storm approaches the northern California coast. Several weak weather disturbances traveling through the ridge of high pressure will bring the chance for showers this evening and overnight, and again later Tuesday, but they won’t affect the high temperatures that are forecast to be just above our seventy-six-degree average.
The cold California storm is forecast to make landfall Monday night before lumbering across the Great Basin through the rest of the workweek. We should see increasing breezes from the south-southwest on Wednesday, with high temperatures being the warmest of the week, and rising to near eighty degrees.
The slowly advancing storm is forecast to push the ridge of high pressure over the Rockies eastward as it traverses across the Great Basin, allowing monsoonal moisture to be drawn northward by winds rotating clockwise around the high pressure. This moisture will be injected into the winds ahead of the cold storm, bringing a good chance for thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday.
The storm is forecast to slow by the end of the workweek before rotating to the northeast, but there is uncertainty regarding the extent of its eastward movement. Weather forecast models have trended toward more of the storm moving through our area, with cooler temperatures and showers lasting into next weekend, but that forecast could certainly change with such a large and wobbly system.
Snow levels could decrease to 11,000′ by Saturday morning if the coldest part of the storm moves overhead, and if moisture can hang around long enough, there may be a dusting of snow on the high peaks of the Zirkels.
Let’s hope the shower chances starting this evening materialize into wetting rains, and I’ll have more details about the Great Basin storm and how it may affect next weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
