Ninety degree temperatures for the weekend
Thursday, July 9, 2026
A storm just skirted our area to the south this Thursday mid-afternoon, bringing a few drops of rain and gusty winds, leaving mostly sunny skies and comfortable mid-70-degree temperatures. There may be another chance of a shower later today, with a small chance of a storm on a mid-to-upper-80-degree Friday. Temperatures warm further into the 90s with no precipitation chances for the weekend and at least the start of the workweek.
A seasonally strong jet stream across southern Canada has brought westerly winds and some moisture into the area starting last Tuesday, clearing the area of smoke from the wildfires to our south and southwest. Town received between 0.1 and 0.15” from a single storm on Tuesday, with only a few hundredths recorded south near the Steamboat Resort. Another several hundredths fell yesterday, which is admittedly meager, but still much welcomed.
Storm coverage will be much less on Friday, though any storm will be capable of brief, locally heavy rain and gusty winds. Temperatures will begin rising as a ridge of high pressure builds over the Four Corners region, with mostly sunny skies and upper-80s forecast for Friday and low-90s for Saturday.
The ridge of high pressure continues to strengthen over the West, and eventually the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest by early next workweek, ahead of low pressure moving southward from the Gulf of Alaska. Forecast temperatures of 96 degrees on Sunday would break the 95-degree record set in 1939.
The record-challenging mid-90-degree temperatures and mostly sunny skies will be with us through at least the beginning of the workweek as the ridge expands northeastward. However, there is some hope for monsoonal moisture near the end of the workweek, depending upon the placement of one or more high-pressure cells over all but the eastern U.S.
Though it will be hot, smoke should at least stay away from our area as we see very light northerly winds through the weekend under the heat dome. Stay high to stay cool this weekend, as 70-degree high temperatures are forecast near 10,000′, and I’ll have more details about the possible push of monsoonal moisture in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
