Active weather to pause for the weekend
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Thursday mid-afternoon temperatures are around 40 degrees in Steamboat Springs and 25 degrees near the top of the Steamboat Ski Area, with cloudy skies and high-elevation snow showers. The bulk of the storm that brought 10” of snow to mid-mountain and 14” up top so far will depart the area in time for a pleasant Washington’s Birthday weekend, with a beautiful mostly sunny Saturday followed by a much warmer but mostly cloudy Sunday and Monday. Active weather returns for Tuesday and again for the end of the workweek.
After 4” of snow in the last 24 hours was observed at mid-mountain and 6” up top, along with a third of an inch of precipitation in town which was mostly rain, a morning of snowfall brought an additional 6” of snow to mid-mountain and 7” up top, highlighted by a couple of heavy snow showers sporting 3” per hour snowfall rates that dropped 2” of snow between 9:40 am and 10 am, and 1” between 11 am and 11:20 am. However, the mid-mountain accumulations have already settled an inch and a half in the two and a half hours since noon, amid warm, springlike temperatures.
The storm responsible for the sorely needed snowfall is still to our west, stretching from Nevada southwestward to off the Baja coast. The storm will consolidate and move eastward, crossing the Southern Rockies early on Saturday. Most of the energy will remain to our south, but lingering moisture and energy will keep showers going over our area for the rest of today and Friday. Some of these showers may be heavy, especially later this afternoon and evening, with each shower possibly leaving another quick inch or two.
Dry air behind the storm will lead to a beautiful, mostly sunny Saturday as a ridge of high pressure behind the storm and ahead of the next storm moves overhead. This next storm will develop in the Gulf of Alaska on Friday and split early on Saturday, with most of the storm elongating southward along the West Coast and forming an eddy by Saturday night. High temperatures in town will warm from around 40 degrees on Friday and Saturday to the upper forties on Sunday, with another fifty-degree day possible on Monday, despite some cloudiness ahead of the next storm.
Additionally, a storm near Japan will ride over the top of a ridge of high pressure developing south of the Aleutians, mixing with cold air around the Bering Straight on Sunday, and interacting with the eddy off the West Coast on Monday. Current weather forecast models show storm chances on Tuesday, followed by a colder, possibly stronger storm for the end of the workweek.
So enjoy the snow leading into a gorgeous start to the long weekend, and I’ll have more details and snowfall guesses for the workweek storms in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Weather pattern to shift Monday with snow likely by later Wednesday
Sunday, February 8, 2026
High clouds and sun are over Steamboat Springs this Sunday at noon with mild temperatures in the low forties in town and upper twenties near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. The weather will turn unsettled by Monday afternoon as a grazing cool front brings increasing clouds and a chance of overnight precipitation. Temperatures will cool, though remain unseasonably warm through the workweek, as several interacting storm systems bring good chances of significant precipitation starting later Wednesday.
An eddy of low pressure near Baja sits under a weakening ridge of high pressure over the West, while a large and complex storm system is over the Gulf of Alaska. The ridge is being pushed eastward by a jet stream over the Pacific Northwest, fortified by an atmospheric river from Hawaii, colloquially known as the Pineapple Express.
A wave moving through the Northern Rockies on Monday will graze our area Monday evening, first bringing increasing clouds Monday afternoon, but allowing for another day of high temperatures in the low fifties, well above our 33-degree average. There may be overnight high-elevation snow showers, though accumulations are likely to be negligible.
Meanwhile, another large storm spanning the Northwestern Pacific will eject some waves of energy that will travel through and around the Gulf of Alaska storm on Monday, splitting the jet stream into northern and southern branches. The southern branch will form a couple of eddies; the first one moving across Northern California on Tuesday while forcing the Baja eddy eastward, and the second moving southward well off the California coast.
These eddies will interact, slowing the speed of both and creating a broad trough of low pressure extending from the Northern Rockies southwestward to off the Baja coast. Additionally, at least some of the northern branch of the jet stream, moving along the Canadian border, will also join the party.
Many moving pieces could lead to significant snowfall starting by later Wednesday, including subtropical moisture injected into the southern stream from the Baja eddy, part of the first eddy over Northern California moving toward our area, and cool air from the northern branch of the jet stream. These could combine over a stationary-looking front that would maximize precipitation potential on Wednesday night.
We could see 4-8” of snow at mid-mountain by the Thursday morning mid-mountain ski report, with another 2-5” during the day in our favorable cool, moist and unstable northwest flow behind the storm. There may also be chances for some additional snow on Friday as the rest of the lagging southern end of the trough moves across the Desert Southwest on Friday.
Temperatures will stay mild through the entire event due to the dominating influence of the southern jet stream, with high temperatures in town only falling into the low forties by the end of the workweek.
We may have a nice weekend as a ridge of high pressure trends stronger in the weather forecast models, ahead of another series of storms reloading across the Pacific. Hope for more snow than forecast from this storm system, and I’ll have more details on what follows in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Warm and beautiful weekend ahead
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Bluebird skies are over Steamboat Springs on this Thursday at noon, with temperatures in town approaching forty degrees, on their way to the upper forties, and a shockingly warm forty degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Beautiful weather is forecast to continue through the weekend, with cool nights and mostly sunny, unseasonably warm days, interrupted only by some clouds for overnight Friday and possibly later Saturday. The well-advertised pattern change for next week has become more uncertain in the latest medium-range forecasts.
A ridge of high pressure over the West is under assault by a series of Pacific storms strewn across the Pacific between eastern Siberia and the Aleutian Islands. The ridge will hold firm through the weekend, with moisture trapped beneath it bringing some clouds Friday night. Clouds may also appear later Saturday as a splitting wave moves through it, depending on how much energy is partitioned into the northern part of the split and its eventual strength.
The 2015 record high temperature of 53 degrees on Friday, well above the freezing average, may be challenged, as well as the 51-degree records set in 2025 on Saturday, and 2015 on Sunday. Tonight will be the coolest night, around our 7-degree average, before the clouds on Friday and possibly Saturday night insulate the surface like a blanket, keeping low temperatures in the teens or twenties.
But what about our next storm? Weather forecast models through last night had agreed on a pattern change around Tuesday, due to a chunk of cold air from eastern Siberia moving across the Northern Pacific and merging with an atmospheric river associated with a storm south of the Aleutian Islands. As of this morning, they now forecast the Siberian wave merging with some cold air moving southward across Alaska, forcing the storm to move south off the West Coast rather than penetrating inland, delaying the arrival of cold air.
We may still see some snowfall around Tuesday and Wednesday as the atmospheric river crosses the West Coast late in the weekend, possibly joined by a wave ejected from the Aleutian storm, though southwesterly winds ahead of the original Siberian storm may or may not push that moisture and energy to our north.
There is too much uncertainty to predict snowfall chances for next week, especially considering this morning’s weather forecast model changes. So enjoy the warm and gorgeous weekend ahead, and I’ll have an update on the latest model gyrations in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Pleasant workweek weather to be interrupted by high-elevation snow chances starting later Tuesday
Sunday, February 1, 2026
A lovely sunny day is over Steamboat Springs this Sunday at noon, with temperatures in the mid-thirties in town, on the way to the upper-forties, and mid-twenties at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. A couple of grazing waves will bring cooler, but still seasonably warm, temperatures through midweek, with clouds on Monday morning and some snow chances starting later Tuesday, lasting into Wednesday morning. Temperatures rebound by Thursday with a nice start to the 113th Steamboat Winter Carnival weekend.
A ridge of high pressure over the West, bringing the gorgeous day today, is sandwiched between a cold trough of low pressure over eastern North America and a series of storms gestating between the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska. A couple of these storms are forecast to round the top of the ridge, the first bringing only cloudiness on Monday morning and the second, a chance for high-elevation snow showers from later Tuesday into Wednesday morning.
High temperatures today will reach the upper forties, well above our average of thirty-one degrees, before falling into the low forties on Monday due to modest cooling associated with the first grazing wave. The second on Tuesday will bring more clouds, limiting high temperatures to around forty degrees, along with the late-day and early-Wednesday snow showers. Any accumulations are likely to be meager unless the wave nudges further to the west, which is always a possibility with a source of cold air to our east.
Another day of high temperatures of around forty degrees on a clearing Wednesday will precede a warmup as the rebounding ridge of high pressure moves overhead. Mostly sunny skies with upper-forty-degree temperatures are forecast for Thursday, with even fifty degrees possible on a continued sunny Friday.
The nice weather will last into at least the start of the weekend, with weather forecast models disagreeing on how a storm from the Gulf of Alaska interacts with the ridge. There may be precipitation chances as early as the end of the weekend, or they may hold off until the following workweek.
So enjoy the nice week ahead, and I’ll have more details about the precipitation chances that may herald a desperately needed pattern change in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Snow showers to last into the start of the weekend
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Light snow showers are over Steamboat Springs this Thursday at noon, with temperatures in town in the upper twenties and eleven degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. A couple of grazing waves will allow snow showers to intermittently continue through Saturday morning before dry air moves overhead, leading to mostly sunny skies by the afternoon and warming temperatures by Sunday.
A ridge of high pressure is over the West Coast, while a persistent vortex of cold air remains ensconced over the eastern two-thirds of North America. A wave traveling through the ridge has brought two inches of snow to mid-mountain as of the Thursday morning ski report, and three inches up top, with another two inches falling through this morning.
As is often the case with a ridge to our west and cold air to our east, waves traveling through or over the ridge often ingest more cold air than originally forecast, sometimes leading to snowier outcomes. Similar to last night, this may happen again tonight into Friday morning, and again Friday night into Saturday morning, with an additional 1-4” of snow possible for each morning’s report.
Incidentally, another lobe of frigid air rotating around the cold-air vortex will move southward through the Midwest on Friday, perhaps enhancing our snow chances Friday night, but more impactfully bringing freezing temperatures to Florida by Sunday, and what looks like a strong Nor’easter that will likely impact at least some of the East Coast from Saturday through Sunday nights.
Meanwhile, the southerly winds ahead of storm systems in the Gulf of Alaska, as well as those forecast to develop there through the weekend, will force the West Coast ridge to amplify and move eastward. We should see mostly sunny skies by Saturday afternoon as the ridge moves overhead, with high temperatures in town warming from freezing on Friday, right around our average of thirty-one degrees, to forty degrees on Saturday and low-to-mid-forties on a mostly sunny Sunday.
But the ridge will be under assault by waves of energy and moisture ejecting from Gulf of Alaska storms. Weather forecast models have a strong wave crossing the Pacific Northwest coast late in the weekend, bringing some clouds during the day on Monday as it crosses the Great Basin, and possible snow showers as early as Monday night.
So, enjoy the bit of new snow to start the weekend, and the nice weather to end it, and I’ll have more details about our early-workweek snow chances in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
