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.
Cloudy weather to start Labor Day turns sunny during a summery workweek
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Sunday is starting beautifully in Steamboat Springs with sunny skies and mid-70-degree temperatures at noon, headed into the low 80s. Some moisture from Hurricane Marie is headed our way, with increasing clouds later today and a slight chance of an overnight or early morning shower. We should see some sun later on Labor Day with cooler temperatures in the upper-seventies, before dry air, mostly sunny skies, and 80-degree temperatures return for most of the workweek. Moisture and cooler air may return around next weekend.
Hurricane Marie is well off the Baja Coast and moving slowly northwestward, but not before injecting some moisture into the southwesterly winds ahead of a large trough of low pressure over the Pacific Northwest. A piece of energy swinging around the southern part of the trough over central California will carry the moisture over Utah today, with a small amount encroaching on Colorado.
We should see increasing afternoon clouds later today, with a small chance of a shower overnight and early on Labor Day. That piece of energy rotates into Montana by Monday morning, dragging pieces of the trough northeastward, along with a grazing cool front for our area early Monday. Moisture and clouds will decrease behind the front through the day, with an afternoon shower possible, and high temperatures in the mid-70s, near our 77-degree average.
Winds turn westerly behind the cool front by Tuesday, and northwesterly by Wednesday as the rest of the trough reluctantly moves into the Northern Plains. Dry air will bring mostly sunny skies by Tuesday with temperatures in the upper-70s, followed by the low-80s for Wednesday that should persist into the weekend.
We may see moisture around next weekend, and possibly cooler air, depending on how much cold air breaks away from a storm in Eastern Siberia and its eventual track across the northern Pacific and the Gulf of Alaska. Additionally, Hurricane Marie is forecast to swing into the central Pacific, spinning aimlessly and weakening under a building central Pacific ridge of high pressure, and may influence the incoming storm.
So enjoy what is left of the unofficially ending summer, enjoy the still-summery workweek ahead, and I’ll have more details about next weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Weekend to start nicely but end with Labor Day showers
Thursday, September 3, 2026
Temperatures in Steamboat Springs are approaching 80 degrees with sunny skies this Thursday mid-afternoon. While the long Labor Day weekend will start mostly sunny, increasing moisture from Hurricane Marie will conspire with energy ejecting from a storm in the Pacific Northwest to bring increasing thunderstorm chances starting later Sunday and lasting through Monday.
The current breezy conditions are due to southwesterly winds accelerating between a large, complex area of low pressure centered over the Pacific Northwest coast and a building ridge of high pressure over the Great Plains. Additionally, Hurricane Marie is moving slowly northwesterly from its current location southwest of southern Baja.
The Pacific Northwest storm is forecast to wobble inland through Sunday and Idaho on Monday, ejecting energy that will move northeastward ahead of the storm, even as additional energy moving through the Gulf of Alaska redevelops a trough of low pressure off Northern California’s coast. As Marie moves slowly northwestward in the Eastern Pacific, some of the hurricane’s moisture will be drawn into the southwest winds ahead of the Pacific Northwest low, moving over Utah on Sunday and our area on Monday.
Temperatures in the low 80s, around 5 degrees above the 77-degree averages, will persist through Sunday, with a mix of sun and clouds on Saturday turning cloudier through Sunday afternoon and evening.
Showers become more likely by Sunday night and Monday as what’s left of the Pacific Northwest storm rotates through Idaho on Monday, lending more energy to the thunderstorms. More cloud cover and the numerous showers likely on Labor Day will cool temperatures to around average.
Drier air sweeps overhead on Tuesday behind the Idaho storm as it moves into Montana, with moisture returning soon after due not only to another tropical storm possibly developing near Baja, but also to interactions between Marie and the developing trough off the West Coast.
Enjoy the nice start to the long Labor Day weekend, and I’ll have more details on Monday’s rain chances in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
