Another hot week after a record hot July

Sunday, August 2, 2026

Temperatures are approaching 95 degrees, above the 93-degree record set in 2000, with mostly sunny skies on this Sunday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. After a record-hot July, we will see some relief by midweek as a storm moving across the Northern Rockies grazes our area with a dry cool front, though high temperatures will still stay above the 83-degree average. Temperatures warm again into the low-90s heading into the weekend with increasing monsoonal moisture, leading to possible precipitation after the weekend.

Though the 17 days in July above 90 degrees, including the 4th warmest day ever recorded in Steamboat Springs of 98 degrees on July 21st, were second to the record 19 days in 2002, this month tops the record books with the warmest average monthly high temperature of 89.4 degrees, breaking the 2002 record by a tenth of a degree, also set in July. Warm nights accompanied the hot days, and this month set the record for the warmest average overnight low of 49.3 degrees, breaking the July 2006 record by a tenth of a degree.

It’s no surprise, then, that holding the records for both the hottest highs and warmest lows means July 2026 now holds the new record for the warmest average monthly temperature of 69.4 degrees, shattering the July 2002 record by 1.5 degrees. That’s not hyperbole, as the next 4 spots are separated by only 0.8 degrees, occupied by the Julys of 2002, at 67.9 degrees, 2018 at 67.3 degrees, and 2007 and 2003 at 67.1 degrees.

While today will likely be another record, the standing records for the coming week appear safe, though it will still be hot, with high temperatures staying above our 83-degree average. That our average high will fall from 84 degrees today to 83 degrees on Monday means the 2.5-week-long heart of summer has passed, lasting from July 14th through August 2nd.

Monday will see another day in the low 90s. However, several grazing cool fronts extending south from a Pacific Northwest storm traveling across the Northern Rockies will modestly cool high temperatures to around 90 degrees on Tuesday, mid-to-upper 80s on Wednesday for the coolest day of the week, and upper 80s on Thursday.

Winds will also become breezy as the jet stream associated with the storm dips south, with 20 to 25 mph afternoon gusts likely, and the current southwesterly wind direction turning westerly on Tuesday and northwesterly by Thursday. Unfortunately, according to the NOAA smoke model, the current hazy skies from wildfires in Utah and Nevada will become hazier starting this afternoon, with air quality decreasing further on Tuesday as smoke from wildfires in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho is transported into our area by the westerly and northwesterly winds.

There is hope for monsoonal moisture to trickle back into our area as soon as the end of the workweek as the Northern Rockies storm nudges at least part of the ridge over the Southwest eastward, allowing weak southerly winds rotating around high pressure over the Southeast to carry some moisture northwards. While dew points will slowly increase heading into the weekend, current long-range forecasts have rains holding off until early next week.

As I am finishing up, the Purple Air air quality widget on the SnowAlarm home page shows us in orange, with an average of 2.5-micron particulate matter at 106 downtown. Let’s hope the wildfire smoke stays away, and I’ll have more details about the increasing moisture during another hot weekend in the low-90s in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.