Weekend to be warm with some passing showers
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Sunny skies and 78-degree temperatures are over Steamboat Springs late this Thursday afternoon. Warm temperatures will continue through the weekend, despite a grazing cool front early on Saturday that brings a small chance of showers starting later Friday. Better chances appear starting later Sunday and extending into the workweek as monsoonal moisture is pulled northward ahead of a stronger, but still grazing, storm.
A trough of low pressure over western Canada is rotating eastward, bringing a grazing cool front through our area early Saturday, even as additional Pacific energy rounding a ridge of high pressure over the Aleutian Islands develops a stronger Pacific Northwest storm during the weekend.
Westerly winds between the cool front and the developing storm will direct some Pacific moisture toward our area Friday, with a slight chance of a late-day shower that would likely bring more wind than rain. Temperatures will be similar to today, around 80 degrees, above our 75-degree average.
The grazing cool front associated with the Canadian trough will pass early Saturday morning, perhaps bringing an early-morning sprinkle, and then minor shower chances later in the day and overnight. A shallow ridge of high pressure will form ahead of the Pacific Northwest storm on Saturday and Sunday, bringing southwesterly winds and low-80-degree temperatures for the weekend.
The ridge moves over the Divide on Sunday as the northwest storm moves into Idaho, allowing a high-pressure cell to elongate to eastern Texas. Monsoonal moisture drawn northward over our area by the southerly winds on the backside of the high and the southwest winds ahead of the northwest storm will bring better chances for showers later Sunday, extending into the workweek.
Rain chances may continue through the workweek in monsoonal flow as the northwest storm moves eastward across the upper Midwest and southern Canadian Plains, pushing the strengthening Texas ridge to the Southeast even as another storm develops in the Pacific Northwest.
Enjoy what should be a pleasant and warm second weekend in September, and I’ll have more details on the rain chances next week in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
