Weekend to start nice start but end with significant precipitation
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures approaching the mid-forties, on their way toward 50 degrees, are over Steamboat Springs at noon on this Thursday after a cool front last night. Temperatures will rebound, and skies will clear on a mostly sunny Friday, with some sun possible on Saturday, ahead of good precipitation chances for Sunday.
We are just south of a wintry storm centered over the northern Rockies, which is downstream of a ridge of high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska. Southwesterly winds as high as 40 mph at the Bob Adams Airport and 50 mph at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort preceded the cool front yesterday, which moved through late in the afternoon.
The storm’s center is forecast to wobble over southern Alberta and Saskatchewan through the weekend as a wave of energy moves over the top of the Gulf of Alaska ridge, elongating the storm toward the southwest across the Pacific Northwest and northern California.
Meanwhile, two areas of low pressure undercutting the Gulf of Alaska ridge and moving eastward will be drawn into the southwestern end of the Canadian storm, the first bringing clouds by Friday night after a mostly sunny day with high temperatures just above our average of 57 degrees.
We may see some periods of sun behind the departing wave centered around noon on Saturday, before clouds increase again ahead of the stronger, wetter wave for Sunday, even as temperatures warm a few degrees from Friday.
Depending upon the speed of this second wave as it slingshots around the main storm, showers could start as early as Saturday night or as late as noon on Sunday. More persistent precipitation will follow Sunday afternoon, continuing through the night, with snow levels above 8,500′ early in the day, falling to around 7,500′ by Monday morning.
Another wave of energy moving down the west side of the Canadian storm on Monday will reinforce its southwesterly elongation, possibly grabbing some moisture left behind by the Sunday wave and continuing showers on Monday.
We could see around a foot of snow at the higher elevations and between a half inch and three-quarters of an inch of rain at the lower elevations by Monday evening. After a short break on Tuesday and at least part of Wednesday, we may see additional precipitation from the southern end of the Canadian storm, forecast to wobble into Manitoba by midweek.
So enjoy the nice start to the weekend, look forward to the coming, desperately needed moisture, and I’ll have more details on the evolving precipitation chances for the following workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Beautiful workweek start to precede a midweek pattern change
Sunday, April 19, 2026
A gorgeous day is over Steamboat Springs this Sunday mid-afternoon with sunny skies and temperatures around 60 degrees. Beautiful weather with even warmer temperatures will persist through Tuesday before winds pick up on a still-warm Wednesday ahead of a pattern change bringing cooler, unsettled weather that may hang around for a while.
After a wintry Friday brought around 5” of snow to mid-mountain and 9” up top, with a couple of inches in town, and a bright but cool Saturday, temperatures have warmed today above our average of 56 degrees under a ridge of high pressure over the West.
The ridge, downstream of a large eddy of low pressure moving southward along the West Coast, will persist over our area into midweek as the eddy eventually moves eastward across the central California coast on Tuesday.
Temperatures under mostly sunny skies will warm toward 70 degrees on Monday and perhaps the mid-seventies on Tuesday, well above our 56-degree average. The eddy is forecast to move across the Great Basin on Wednesday and ingest cold air moving southward from western Canada, bringing increasing clouds and winds by Wednesday afternoon, high temperatures in the sixties, and a cool front late in the afternoon or early in the evening.
Cooler temperatures and unsettled weather will follow, lasting through the weekend and into at least next week, perhaps even into the first part of May. However, the details are very uncertain as the leading part of the eddy is partially deflected to our north by our early-workweek ridge of high pressure, which will have been pushed to the Midwest, even as more cold air from western Canada reinvigorates the western part of the lingering eddy over Nevada.
This creates a general trough of low pressure over the West (finally!), allowing for cool weather and periods of precipitation, with snow levels dipping to town-level overnight and rising to around 8,000′ during the day.
Right now, the precipitation looks to start on the showery side, with weather forecast models disagreeing if more persistent precipitation arrives for the weekend’s start, like the American GFS, or closer to the weekend’s end, like the European ECMWF. So enjoy the gorgeous start to the workweek, and I’ll have more details on the cooler and unsettled weather that follows in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Weekend weather to clear after wintry storm for Friday
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the low sixties are over Steamboat Springs on this Thursday mid-afternoon. A strong cold front tonight will bring wintry weather on Friday, with significant snowfall at all elevations, followed by mostly sunny skies and warming temperatures for the weekend.
Our next weather-maker is moving southeastward through Idaho, with a strong cold front stretching from central Utah into northwest Wyoming. Southwest breezes ahead of the front will continue through the afternoon before the cold front blasts through mid-evening, with snow showers starting at all elevations by around midnight.
Snowfall rates may be as high as an inch per hour at times between 3 am and noon on Friday, with brief showers occurring during the afternoon in our favorable cold and unstable northwest flow behind the storm. We could see 5-10” of snowfall on the hill, with around half that in town by sunset on Friday, with high temperatures in town struggling to rise above freezing, over 20 degrees below our 55-degree average.
If skies clear by Saturday morning as forecast, we will be greeted by wintertime temperatures reaching as low as the teens in town, below our average of 27 degrees, and single digits at the top of the now-closed Steamboat Ski Resort.
Mostly sunny skies on Saturday should allow high temperatures to rise into the mid-forties in town, followed by another warmer, but still cold Sunday morning, with high temperatures rising to around 60 degrees.
Meanwhile, another storm is forecast to develop over the Aleutian Islands on Friday, strengthen as it ingests cold air moving southward across Alaska, and elongate to the south as it moves across the Gulf of Alaska mid-weekend, eventually forming an eddy off the northern California coast on Monday.
Southerly winds ahead of the eddy will allow high temperatures to keep rising as a ridge of high pressure builds overhead, eventually reaching around 70 degrees by Tuesday. The pleasant weather is forecast to continue through most of the workweek until the eddy is forced eastward across the West by energy moving across the northern Pacific.
Our end-of-workweek weather will depend upon the northern stream energy and its eventual interaction with the eddy, with weather forecast models varying both between and within themselves. So, welcome the wintry-springtime moisture on Friday, enjoy the mostly sunny weekend, and I’ll have more details about the incoming eddy in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Workweek to start and end colder with likely precipitation
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Mostly sunny skies are over Steamboat Springs late this Sunday morning with temperatures in the mid-fifties, on their way to the mid-sixties. An approaching storm will bring cooler weather with some shower chances on Monday, followed by even colder temperatures and precipitation on Tuesday. Behind the storm, temperatures rebound on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of a colder, stronger storm bringing snowfall to all elevations for the end of the workweek.
A strong storm centered over northern California and headed our way has brought impressive snowfall to the Sierras, with 28” of snowfall already recorded at Kirkwood, and more coming! The storm will elongate and stretch to the southwest as it enters the Great Basin on Monday, eventually splitting as it moves overhead on Tuesday.
After a pleasant day today, with high temperatures around 10 degrees above our average of 54 degrees and afternoon breezes from the southwest, cool air will begin to filter into our area tonight as the Pacific storm enters the Great Basin and ejects waves of cool air and moisture. High temperatures drop to around or just below average on Monday, with chances for passing showers starting tonight and continuing through tomorrow.
A stronger wave rounding the storm during Monday will bring a cold front through our area Monday night, lowering snow levels to around 7,500′ and bringing a rainy Tuesday in town, perhaps with some snowflakes mixed in, and 3-6” of upper-elevation snowfall. High temperatures will finally fall below average for a change, reaching only around 50 degrees.
Skies will partially clear behind the storm during the day on Wednesday, with high temperatures rebounding toward average, followed by around 60 degrees on a Thursday that should start mostly sunny.
Meanwhile, a chunk of cold air from Siberia will travel across the Gulf of Alaska on Monday and cross the Vancouver coast on Tuesday. More cold air from western Canada will strengthen the wintry storm on Wednesday as it travels across the Pacific Northwest, traversing the Great Basin on Thursday and bringing a strong cold front with likely significant snowfall for all elevations starting Thursday night or early Friday.
Until then, enjoy the Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel and the Wailers concerts at the base of the now-closed Steamboat Ski Resort today, hope for more moisture than forecast on Tuesday, and I’ll have more details about the wintry end-of-week storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Pleasant weekend with possible showers later today and Saturday
Thursday, April 9, 2026
A mix of sun and clouds is over Steamboat Springs early this Thursday afternoon with temperatures around 60 degrees. Other than some shower chances later today, with a better chance Saturday, warm and pleasant weather is forecast for the weekend, followed by a stretch of cool and unsettled weather next week.
The official March data from the weather station near the high school have been published, with the most notable extremes being the warmest March day and month since 1893, when record-keeping began in Steamboat Springs.
The new March high-temperature record of 81 degrees, reached on both Saturday, March 21, and Tuesday, March 24, shattered the previous record of 70 degrees set in 2017. Unbelievably, that was even warmer than the highest temperature ever recorded in April, 79 degrees, set in the last 2 days of April, 2000, and the last day of April, 1943.
Additionally, we tied or broke daily high-temperature records for 12 of the last 14 days of March, resulting in the warmest average high temperature for the month of 60.3 degrees, shattering the old record of 52.7 degrees in 1910, and even the 14th warmest for April! The monthly average temperature record (the average of every daily high and low temperature) was also broken, reaching 42.6 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 37.1 degrees set in 2017.
Now a low-pressure eddy sits off the northern California coast while the northern part of a split storm moves southeastward across the Gulf of Alaska. Some Pacific moisture has moved overhead in advance of the eddy, bringing the chance of a late-afternoon or evening shower, with high temperatures in the mid-to-upper sixties, well above our average of 53 degrees.
The eddy will be kicked eastward while weakening, even as it is eventually replaced by the Gulf of Alaska storm, which will itself form an eddy. A transient ridge of high pressure ahead of the weakening eddy on Friday will allow warmer high temperatures to reach the low seventies, despite mid and high-level clouds.
Shower chances increase on Saturday, perhaps as early as noon and continuing through the night, as the weakening eddy moves across Utah, grazing our area with a cool front that will lower high temperatures back into the mid-sixties.
The new eddy is forecast to move into Northern California by Saturday night, with drier air, afternoon breezes, and high temperatures in the low sixties gracing the Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel and the Wailers concerts at the base of the now-closed Steamboat Ski Resort on Sunday.
It is forecast to weaken as it moves eastward, bringing showers and cooler weather into our area by later Monday, with possible snowflakes in town and significant snowfall at higher elevations on Tuesday. Enjoy the pleasant weekend ahead, and I’ll have more details on the incoming storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
