Monsoon to return after a hot weekend
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Temperatures are just above 85 degrees under hazy skies this breezy Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. Even warmer temperatures in the low 90s are forecast for this weekend as monsoonal moisture starts to trickle into the area. Look for increasing afternoon cloudiness through the weekend and next week, with periods of smoke from the wildfires to our west. Rain chances will not emerge until after midweek, along with cooling temperatures.
A ridge of high pressure is over the West, with northwest winds carrying smoke, likely from the Big Grass Fire in southeast Oregon, over our area. The NOAA smoke model has the smoke moderating later today, only to be followed by another pulse of smoke around noon on Friday, which is also forecast to moderate by later in the day.
Meanwhile, energy ejected from a storm in the Gulf of Alaska will approach the British Columbia coast tomorrow, flattening the western ridge of high pressure while nudging it eastward. Temperatures will increase as the ridge moves overhead, with forecast highs through the weekend in the low 90s, almost 10 degrees above the 83-degree average.
Monsoonal moisture drawn northward by the clockwise rotation around the migrating high pressure will approach our area this weekend, producing afternoon and evening clouds. These clouds will persist through next week, with thunderstorms becoming more likely through the workweek. While the storms will start dry, rain will be possible after midweek, with the European ECMWF more optimistic than the drier American GFS.
So enjoy yet another hot summer weekend, as we likely don’t have many left, and I’ll have more details about the rain chances next week in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
