Heat wave to last through the week

Sunday, July 12, 2026

Sunny skies and temperatures already in the upper 80s, on their way to the mid-90s, are over Steamboat Springs this Sunday at noon. After yesterday’s high temperature of 95 degrees fell one degree short of the 1954 record, similar heat will continue through the workweek and into next weekend. Monsoonal moisture will approach our area by midweek, with increasing precipitation chances appearing around next weekend and the following workweek.

An impressive ridge of high pressure is over most of the U.S., save for low pressure over the Northwest and Northeast coasts. The Northwest low pressure will be forced eastward across Canada through the workweek by Pacific energy traveling through the Gulf of Alaska, even as a new area of low pressure takes its place. The ridge will be barely dented, squirting around the traveling low pressure, and rebuilding over the West, continuing our current heat wave.

Forecast high temperatures in the mid-90s will be within a degree of the daily records on all days of the workweek except Thursday, with that 99-degree record, set in 1904, safe. Monsoonal moisture drawn northward by winds rotating clockwise around the ridge begins to approach our area by midweek, but the dry, hot atmosphere will take days to moisten.

Marginal thunderstorm chances appear after midweek and increase through next weekend, with wetting rains becoming more likely. The first storms may be similar to what we saw early yesterday evening, when gusty winds formed by virga, rain evaporating before it reaches the ground, were accompanied by some raindrops actually reaching the ground.

Despite the hot days, we should see comfortably cool nighttime temperatures reaching the low 50s. Take note, however, that any evening easterly winds rotating around high-pressure cells might delay the evening cooling by several hours or more, as the air warms on its way down the western slopes of the Park Range.

While we will see at least some monsoonal moisture starting after midweek, the timing, amount, and duration are uncertain. I will certainly have more details about the coming precipitation chances in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.