Winds to increase ahead of dry midweek cool front
Sunday, June 7, 2026
Eighty-degree temperatures and a mix of sun and clouds are over Steamboat Springs this Sunday mid-afternoon. Several low-pressure areas from the Pacific Northwest will bring increasing winds ahead of a cool front on Wednesday, with another day of gusty winds but cooler temperatures in the low 70s. Cooler temperatures persist on a calmer Thursday before temperatures rise again to around 80 degrees heading into next weekend.
Saturday was a hot, summery day, with the 86-degree high temperature tying 1893 for the second-warmest of that date, but falling a degree shy of the 2000 record of 87 degrees.
Temperatures have cooled to around 80 degrees today, above our 74-degree average, as the first in a series of waves rotates northeast of our area through a broad area of low pressure over the Pacific Northwest.
The waves will not be able to make much progress toward the Central Rockies as they are deflected to the northeast by a ridge of high pressure extending from the Southeast northward to Hudson Bay. We will see gusty afternoon winds on Monday and Tuesday, with continued 80-degree temperatures, ahead of a cool front on Wednesday associated with the strongest of the waves. High temperatures will fall into the low-seventies, with another day of gusty winds before they relax on a Thursday with average temperatures.
High temperatures are forecast to be back around 80 degrees for the end of the workweek and heading into the weekend. While precipitation is unlikely with the Wednesday cool front, chances may increase around next weekend, depending on how another Pacific Northwest storm evolves.
So enjoy the pleasant, if not breezy, workweek weather, and I’ll have more details about precipitation chances in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Hot weekend on tap, with today’s breezes to relax before resuming Sunday
Thursday, June 4, 2026
A mix of sun and clouds is over Steamboat Springs early this Thursday afternoon with temperatures in the upper 70s. The breezes today will relax on Friday and Saturday before picking up again on Sunday and lasting through much of next week ahead of an approaching storm. High temperatures through the weekend should be in the low 80s, except on Saturday, when the 2000 record high of 87 degrees may be challenged.
A ridge of high pressure is over the Southeast, with a weak area of low pressure over Baja and strong storms in the Gulf of Alaska and just south of the Aleutian Islands. The breezes today are due to our proximity to the jet stream, which is moving across the Northern Rockies.
The Baja system is forecast to lift northeastward across Texas on Saturday, too far east to affect our Friday weather, but perhaps bringing some Saturday afternoon and evening cloudiness. Friday should see mostly sunny skies, with decreased breezes and high temperatures around 80 degrees, above our 73-degree average.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest storm will approach Vancouver on Friday and move into the Pacific Northwest on Saturday, rotating northeastward across Idaho into Canada on Sunday as the Aleutian storm takes its place in the Gulf of Alaska. Winds will turn southwesterly on Saturday ahead of the storm, bringing much warmer air from the Desert Southwest overhead and allowing high temperatures to challenge the 87-degree record from 2000, despite the possible late-day cloudiness. High temperatures will then drop a few degrees on Sunday as some cooler air behind the storm leaks southeastward from Idaho.
The Southeast ridge of high pressure will also broaden and build northward across the Central U.S. and into Canada as the next Gulf of Alaska storm takes a more southerly track along the West Coast through the beginning of next week, and directs warm air across much of the U.S. The storm is then forecast to turn inland and move eastward across the Great Basin, possibly affecting us around midweek, strengthening daytime winds, and starting the week with continued warm temperatures.
Be sure to enjoy the summery weekend, with temperatures around or above the 83-degree late-July average summer-peak, and I’ll have more details about the approaching storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Summery workweek ahead
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Temperatures are in the low 60s, headed to the mid 60s, this Sunday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. Today, a mix of sun, clouds, and a few raindrops marks the end of the storm system that brought around 2/3” of rainfall to town between Thursday and Saturday. Appropriately, the first day of meteorological summer on Monday, June 1, will see mid-70s temperatures and mostly sunny skies. Even warmer temperatures around 80 degrees will be with us through the workweek, with mostly sunny skies prevailing except on Wednesday, when a weak disturbance passes through the area.
The rainfall over the last several days boosted the accumulated May rainfall to a welcome 3.51”, exceeding the 2.65” average by about a third, while the 2” of snowfall on May 5th was just below the 2.8” monthly average.
The main part of the previous storm system has been deflected into Montana by a building ridge of high pressure extending from Texas into the Great Plains. A trailing wave, responsible for the clouds and a few raindrops today, is grazing our area and will follow the main storm into Montana on Monday, leaving our area with mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in the mid-70s, just above the average of 72 degrees.
Even warmer temperatures around 80 degrees are forecast on a mostly sunny Tuesday as the Texas ridge of high pressure builds into the upper Midwest.
Meanwhile, a weak Pacific disturbance, perhaps associated with a lobe of energy ejecting from a developing storm in the Gulf of Alaska, is forecast to cross the southern California coast on Tuesday and split, with the southern part of the split moving south into Baja and the northern part riding northward along the west side of the Texas ridge.
We may see some Tuesday afternoon clouds ahead of the disturbance, with more clouds on Wednesday as mid-level moisture increases from both the disturbance and from moisture carried northward from the clockwise circulation around the Texas ridge.
Weak counterclockwise winds rotating around the Baja disturbance will provide another source of northward-moving moisture in a monsoonal-like pattern, perhaps bringing another cloudy afternoon on Thursday, depending upon the eventual westward extent of the moisture.
More summery weather is forecast heading into next weekend, with uncertainty near the end of the weekend regarding the southern extent of the Gulf of Alaska storm as it crosses the Pacific Northwest coast mid-weekend. The European ECMWF is advertising a split storm, with the southern part moving into the Great Basin on Sunday, while the American GFS rotates an intact storm across the Northern Rockies.
So enjoy the stellar first week of meteorological summer, and I’ll have more details about the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Cold front Friday night to be followed by weekend shower chances
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Temperatures are a degree shy of 80 degrees late on this Thursday afternoon in Steamboat Springs with mostly sunny skies. After another warm Friday, a cold front from an approaching storm that evening will bring a cool Saturday with a chance of showers. Pleasant weather returns on Sunday as shower chances substantially decrease and temperatures moderate ahead of a warm and dry workweek.
The Texas storm I discussed in the Memorial Day weather narrative ended up farther west than forecast, bringing enough of a low-pressure area across the Colorado Plains to force good-for-nothing, annoying, gusty easterly winds to our area on Wednesday evening. There may be enough of that storm left behind for a brief period of winds with an easterly component this evening as well, though likely not as strong and persistent as yesterday.
Now, the California eddy is moving eastward, nudged along by a storm in the Gulf of Alaska also moving eastward. The eddy will cross Nevada and Utah on Friday, dragging a cold front through our area Friday night as it rotates across northern Colorado and Wyoming. After a mostly sunny Friday with high temperatures in the mid-seventies, above our 70-degree average, there is a small chance of afternoon showers ahead of the front.
Shower chances increase along and behind the front from Friday night through a much cooler Saturday, with high temperatures in the low-60s and a dusting of snow possible above 10,000′ Friday night. Even though the storm is followed by some energy leaking southward from the Gulf of Alaska storm, both will rotate northward into Montana and Idaho on Sunday as they encounter a stout ridge of high pressure extending southward from the Canadian Plains into the Central Plains.
Temperatures will stay below average on Sunday, but warm into the mid-to-upper sixties under a mix of sun and clouds, and decreased chances for late-day showers.
A ridge of high pressure is forecast to develop over Texas on Monday, building northward through the workweek and bringing very pleasant, dry weather to our area with mostly sunny skies. The low-70s to start the workweek should reach the summerlike 80-degree mark after midweek.
Enjoy your weekend, hope for wetting rains on Saturday, and I’ll have more details about the workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Beautiful Memorial Day to be followed by Tuesday showers
Monday, May 25, 2026
Temperatures are around 70 degrees, on their way to the upper seventies, under mostly sunny skies late this Memorial Day morning in Steamboat Springs. While there may be a chance of showers today, shower chances are good on a cooler Tuesday before decreasing again for the rest of the workweek.
A complex weather pattern is over the western U.S. with a large eddy of low pressure moving southward along the Pacific Northwest coast, two small low pressure areas over Arizona and eastern Texas, and a ridge of high pressure over the northern Rockies.
Some moisture from the Arizona storm will be drawn northward by the southerly winds ahead of the Pacific Northwest storm today, bringing some clouds this afternoon with chances for some showers. But that won’t stop high temperatures from reaching into the high 70s, almost 10 degrees above our 69-degree average.
The Arizona storm will shear apart as it moves northward on Tuesday, combining with moisture moving around the eastern Texas storm and bringing a good chance of afternoon and evening showers, perhaps starting before noon, and cooler temperatures in the low 70s.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest storm is forecast to stall over northern California by midweek, with its southerly winds now carrying drier air overhead on what might be a mostly sunny Wednesday, allowing high temperatures to rise back to the upper 70s.
However the Texas storm will also be moving northward across Kansas by Wednesday, with the weak counterclockwise winds around the storm perhaps bringing some moisture back to Colorado. There is some uncertainty regarding the westward extent of this moisture on Wednesday, with the American GFS having a chance of late-day storms. Weather forecast models are more in agreement on Thursday for a chance of late-day showers, but not before temperatures reach around 80 degrees.
While that stalled northern California eddy is forecast to finally move northeastward around Friday, it may or may not be close enough to affect the weekend weather. So enjoy the traditional Memorial Day barbecues on this beautiful, unofficial first day of the summer season, and I’ll have more details on the coming weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
