Temperatures to warm ahead of Christmas moisture
Sunday, December 21, 2025
A mix of clouds and sun is over Steamboat Springs this Sunday at noon, with temperatures near forty degrees in town and freezing near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. After three and a half inches of snowfall on the hill Saturday and another half inch overnight, precipitation chances disappear until Christmas as temperatures warm under mostly sunny skies, not a good start to astronomical winter, which began at 8:03 am.
Our weather until Christmas will be dominated by a ridge of high pressure building over the central U.S., downstream of a developing trough of low pressure extending southward from the Gulf of Alaska. After a possible shower tonight, winds will turn to be from the southwest ahead of the deepening trough, bringing warm and dry air overhead with breezy afternoon winds.
We should see mostly sunny skies through Tuesday, with high temperatures in town in the forties, well above our twenty-nine-degree average, and low temperatures in the twenties, also well above our average of five degrees.
Cold air moving eastward from Siberia will round a persistent ridge of high pressure near the Dateline, and strengthen the trough while moving at least a portion of it eastward. Weather forecast models have struggled not only with this eastward motion and whether an eddy eventually forms on its southern end, but also with how much cold air moves into the trough and how much continues eastward.
Current forecasts have a leading piece of energy ejecting out of the storm, crossing the West Coast Tuesday night, and bringing increasing clouds to our area on Wednesday. Showers may wait until Christmas Day, which is good, as the warm origin of the moisture means snow levels peak near 10,000′ on Wednesday night.
While showers are possible on Christmas Day, frozen precipitation will only reach the mid-mountain elevation, with temperatures not cooling enough to bring snowflakes to town until Friday. Precipitation amounts currently look to be quite modest, but there is still time for the forecast to change. Enjoy the nice prelude to the Christmas holiday, and I’ll have more details on what to expect for the coming weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
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