Weekend to be cooler with increasing thunderstorm chances

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Some clouds are finally overhead on this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs, keeping temperatures in the mid-80s so far. After last Sunday’s 98-degree record and possible records on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, high temperatures will settle around 90 degrees through the weekend, with increasing chances of mostly dry thunderstorms. Wetting rains become far more likely next week as monsoonal moisture moves overhead.

Not only did last Sunday break the daily record of 95, set in 1954, but it also became the 4th-warmest day in Steamboat Springs since 1893, tying 98-degree daily records set in 2001 on August 4, 6, 10, and 12. The official temperatures for the beginning of the workweek from the weather station behind the Steamboat Springs High School should be published by Sunday morning, so I may have more records to discuss in my next blog post on Sunday afternoon.

The record warmth was from a ridge of high pressure sitting over most of the country, save for the Northwest and Northeast coasts. Southerly winds on the backside of the high pressure have finally carried a plume of monsoonal moisture northward across Arizona and Utah, marking the start of the North American Monsoon.

Though the plume will be concentrated to our west through the weekend, enough moisture will leak eastward for increasing thunderstorm chances. Unfortunately, more wind than rain is forecast through most of the weekend as the dry lower atmosphere begins to moisten, delaying significant wetting rain chances until early next week.

But the afternoon clouds will temper the heat, with high temperatures forecast to be around 90 degrees through the weekend, still above the 84-degree average. So enjoy the cooler, but still hot, weekend, and look forward to the approaching monsoonal moisture as the advancing low pressure over the Northwest coast moves eastward across Canada, nudging the ridge of high pressure eastward. I’ll have more details about the rain chances for the workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.