Record daily and monthly high temperatures on tap
Thursday, March 19, 2026
A gorgeous day with nary a cloud in the sky is over Steamboat Springs this Thursday at noon, with temperatures in town already above 60 degrees, on the way to 70 degrees, and 46 degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Even though the spring equinox is not until Friday at 8:46 AM, the atmosphere has other ideas, and is dishing out temperatures representative of early June, with the forecast high temperatures in the 70’s breaking daily records for the next three days. A breezy Saturday will not only set another new record for the day, but also for the month, ahead of a grazing cool front on Sunday, bringing clouds and high temperatures dropping into the sixties.
An unseasonably strong and warm ridge of high pressure centered over the West Coast is sandwiched between a trough of low pressure extending south from the Aleutian Islands and another over eastern North America. Cold air moving south through the Bering Sea will rotate through the Gulf of Alaska on Friday and Saturday, eventually flattening the ridge while driving it eastward, bringing a cool front through our area on Sunday.
Until then, expect mostly sunny skies with high temperatures around 70 degrees today and Friday, breaking the 64-degree records set for both days in 2017. Winds will increase on Saturday ahead of the cool front on Sunday, with even warmer high temperatures in the mid-seventies, breaking the daily 65-degree record set in 2009, and the monthly 70-degree March record set in 2017, 2012, 2004, and 1897.
Unbelievably, even clouds on a cooler Sunday may not interrupt the string of record-breaking warm days, as high temperatures are forecast to be around the 64-degree record, also set in 2017.
With some clouds to start the workweek, high temperatures are forecast to remain around 20 degrees above the upper-forty-degree average, perhaps reaching the mid-seventies again around midweek ahead of a possible cold front around Thursday.
So enjoy our misplaced summery weather this weekend, and I’ll have more details about the following workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Temperatures to warm to record levels by the end of the workweek
Sunday, March 15, 2026
A breezy winter day is over Steamboat Springs this Ides of March Sunday, with early-afternoon temperatures only 24 degrees in town, well below the 45-degree average, and 4 degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. After no snow fell with the cold front last night, which brought plenty of wind, light snowfall chances will start a warming workweek with record-high temperatures, likely in the seventies(!), starting Thursday and lasting into the weekend.
Weather forecasting is humbling if nothing else, and I’ve had a rough week, highlighted by 4” of snow Tuesday night, which was not well-forecast, followed by no snow last night, when snow was forecast. We were oh-so-close as a line of snow showers produced 7” of snow at Loveland, and 6” at Winter Park and Eldora, but last night’s cold front brought only cold and plenty of wind to our area, with moutain-top gusts reaching 84 mph just after midnight, and gusts in the fifties during the day Saturday.
The winter weather is courtesy of strong, northwest flow over the Rockies as air travels over the top of a ridge of high pressure over the eastern Pacific towards a trough of low pressure extending southward from central Canada across the Midwest. The ridge is downstream of a deep trough of low pressure extending southward from the Gulf of Alaska to the Dateline northwest of Hawaii, directing Pineapple Express moisture toward the Pacific Northwest.
Even though the ridge of high pressure will be forced eastward by energy ejecting out of the Dateline trough, a couple of pockets of moisture in the northwest flow will carry precipitation chances over our area during the day Monday, and again Monday night. Though moist, northwest flow is favorable for precipitation in north-central Colorado, warming temperatures are not, so at the risk of another busted forecast, we could see 1-4” of snowfall at mid-mountain during the day Monday and another 1-4” overnight.
Though high temperatures are forecast to rise to the low forties in town on Monday, snow levels stay below 7,000′ until late in the day, allowing for the chance of snow showers in town during the day, changing to rain showers overnight.
Clouds will decrease during the day on Tuesday as the ridge crosses the West Coast and begins moving across the Great Basin, allowing high temperatures to jump into the upper-fifties. Mostly sunny skies for the rest of the workweek will allow high temperatures to continue climbing, reaching the mid-to-upper sixties by Wednesday, below the record-high of 70 degrees set in 2017.
But the record-high temperatures of 64 degrees on both Thursday and Friday, set in 2017, will likely fall as forecasts call for around 70 degrees on Thursday, and a bit warmer on Friday, representative of late-May and early-June temperatures. The seventy-degree stretch of weather is forecast to start the weekend, likely breaking the 65-degree Saturday record set in 2003.
So enjoy the coming springlike weather, while hoping for snow to start the workweek, and I’ll have more details about the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
More snow Saturday night behind warm and windy weather
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies and breezy winds are over Steamboat Springs with temperatures in the low fifties in town and at freezing near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort early this Thursday afternoon. More warm weather through Saturday precedes increasingly windy conditions ahead of another quick-moving cold front that will bring much colder temperatures and accumulating snow by Sunday morning.
Strong ridging off the southern California coast and a deep downstream trough over the eastern North America leaves moderately fast northwest flow from the Pacific Northwest to the central Rockies and Plains. Spotty moisture in the stable and warm flow will allow for sunnier skies on Friday before mostly cloudy weather returns for Saturday. But winds will only increase with gusts as high as 60 mph on Friday, followed by 70-80 mph gusts by Saturday afternoon, possibly affecting lift operations.
Similar to Tuesday night, when 3.5” of snow fell at mid-mountain, and 4” up top, accompanied by a 3-degree temperature and 20 mph winds, an eddy of low pressure northwest of Hawaii will encourage a slug of Pineapple Express moisture to move northeastward and be ingested into a wave of cold air moving across the Gulf of Alaska.
The snow on Tuesday night was not well forecast, even by the shortest-range models, with the Gulf of Alaska energy and moisture moving further south than expected, leading to a colder and snowier outcome than forecast. There is a chance the same thing occurs again on Saturday night, with a possible 4-8” of snow falling at mid-mountain by Sunday morning, with quite cold mountain-top temperatures starting in the single digits and highs in town around freezing, well below our average of 45 F, for a change.
Snow showers will continue on the cold Sunday in the favorable cold, moist, breezy, and unstable northwest flow behind the storm, with another 1-4” at mid-mountain possible.
High temperatures rebound on Monday toward average, with continued breezes from the northwest as a ridge of high pressure moves across the West. There may be additional precipitation chances early in the workweek as more moisture moves through northwest flow, though the warm and stable conditions will likely limit accumulations.
Hopefully, Saturday afternoon lift impacts will be minimal due to the strong and gusty winds from the west. Enjoy the return of winter for Sunday, and I’ll have more details on a warming workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Breezy warm days to be interrupted by dry Wednesday cool front
Sunday, March 8, 2026
Skies are clearing from the west this Sunday at noon in Steamboat Springs, with temperatures around forty degrees in town, warming to around fifty degrees, and mid-twenties at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. More sun, afternoon breezes, and warmer temperatures to start the work week precedes cooler temperatures on Wednesday due to a dry grazing cool front. Temperatures rebound starting Thursday, lasting into the weekend, with afternoon breezes and mostly cloudy skies.
After ten inches of snow were reported at mid-mountain between Wednesday night and Friday afternoon, eight inches up top, and seven inches in town, Saturday brought a stunning, but relatively rare this season, mid-winter day. Snowfall on Friday was intense at times during the afternoon, highlighted by three-inch-per-hour snowfall rates between 2 pm and 2:20 pm, recorded at both mid-mountain and the summit, and again between 4 pm and 4:20 pm, but only at mid-mountain and in town.
Clouds this morning should give way to a beautiful, mostly sunny afternoon with high temperatures rising to around fifty degrees, above our 42-degree average.
The eddy from the splitting storm that just passed through our area is now vacationing off the coast of Baja, and will be coaxed across the Mexican border by energy ejecting from a storm in the Gulf of Alaska. The jet stream to our north will strengthen, bringing afternoon breezes on Monday and Tuesday, but allowing high temperatures to rise into the mid-fifties, perhaps threatening the 57-degree record on Monday set in 1989.
By Tuesday night, the jet stream will move southward, linking up with the eddy remnant and allowing cold air to spill southward across the Midwest on Wednesday, likely causing severe weather in the Ohio River Valley. While we will avoid almost all of the cold air, a grazing cool front will knock high temperatures back to around average on Wednesday, with a shower or two possible north of our area Tuesday night.
Cold air moving southward across Alaska will keep the Gulf of Alaska storm active through the weekend. An eddy of low pressure north of Hawaii is forecast to inject some moisture into the storm starting around midweek, forming an atmospheric river, also known in this case as the Pineapple Express, before becoming absorbed by the storm near the end of the weekend.
Unfortunately, a ridge of high pressure is forecast to build ahead of the eddy and move eastward toward the southern West Coast by the weekend, keeping the jet stream across the Northern Rockies. It appears we will see some moisture in this pattern with northwesterly winds, though the warm air and absence of storm energy mean only cloudiness from Thursday into the weekend.
The jet stream is forecast to eventually be forced southward on the front side of the building ridge, possibly ingesting some cold Canadian air and moving far enough south across the central Rockies to bring precipitation back to our area by the end of the weekend or early in the following workweek. But that is a week away, so enjoy the beautiful start to the workweek, and I’ll have more details about the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Winter weather to briefly return ahead of a nice weekend
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Despite clouds building to our southwest ahead of an approaching winter storm, sunny skies are over Steamboat Springs this Thursday at noon, with temperatures in the low forties in town and mid-twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. The storm will bring snow accumulations to all elevations from tonight through Friday, starting a mostly sunny weekend on a relatively cool note, especially after the record-high temperatures of the previous week.
Those records included tying the 52-degree high temperature mark set in 1940 last Friday, breaking the 52-degree record on Saturday with 55 degrees, and shattering the 56-degree record on Monday with 62 degrees, well above the 40-degree average and representative of early-May temperatures.
We’ve seen another couple of warm days behind the very disappointing storm that barely arrived last Tuesday, with another more promising storm on our doorstep. A trough of low pressure extending southwestward from Idaho across Utah to southern California will split on Friday, with the northern part of the split moving across Colorado during the day. A cold front associated with the storm’s leading edge begins snow showers at all elevations around mid-evening, becoming strongest between midnight and Friday morning.
We could see 3-6” of new snow for the Friday morning mid-mountain ski report, and that again during the day, with 1-4” of total accumulation in town, as the northern part of the split moves across northeastern Colorado. The southern part of the split is forecast to head toward Baja by Monday, leaving us in a col between the storm pieces, and interfering with the favorable northwest flow that normally occurs behind winter storms. While current forecasts have much of the snow over by sunset Friday, some showers may continue Friday night ahead of a relatively cold Saturday morning, with low temperatures around our average of 13 degrees in town, and around 5 degrees at the top of the hill.
High temperatures in town on Friday will finally fall below average, though only by a few degrees, before clouds clear on Saturday, bringing a mostly sunny afternoon with average high temperatures. As winds shift from the north to the west on a mostly sunny Sunday, bringing warmer air aloft, high temperatures rise back to the upper forties.
The following workweek is forecast to start warm and dry, with weather forecast models trending further north and weaker with possible grazing storms around Tuesday and Friday. So, as usual, hope for more snow than forecast on Friday, enjoy the nice weekend, and I’ll have more details on possible storm chances next week in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
