Sunny skies and warming temperatures for the weekend
Thursday, November 5, 2026
Temperatures are around 40 degrees at this dark, 6 pm hour this Thursday in Steamboat Springs. A storm splitting to our west will bring some clouds on Friday, with mostly sunny skies and warming temperatures for the weekend. There is little hope for precipitation for at least the next week.
A stunning sunlit blanket of fog, captured in the included picture by the Four Points cam, covered the Yampa Valley early this morning. This may be the weather highlight for a while.
A weak storm is splitting over the Great Basin, with the southern part forecast to form an eddy over the Desert Southwest before moving into Mexico by Saturday, and the weaker northern part moving across the Northern Rockies. Our area will see only clouds tonight through Friday morning, with skies clearing in the afternoon and high temperatures just above our 48-degree average.
As a series of storms rotate through a strong area of low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska this weekend and beyond, a ridge of high pressure will move overhead. Sunny skies are forecast for this weekend, with high temperatures in the low 50s on Saturday and upper 50s on Sunday.
Similar weather will continue through most of the workweek before there may be some hope that Gulf of Alaska energy and moisture move into the West. So enjoy a very nice weekend, and I’ll have more details on how long this pleasant weather may last in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Workweek to start with low-elevation rain and high-elevation snow
Sunday, November 1, 2026
Rain showers are over Steamboat Springs this Sunday afternoon, with temperatures around 50 degrees. Rain will continue overnight ahead of a cold front early Monday morning, turning the high-elevation rain into accumulating snowfall. While the rain will taper off in town after noon, snowfall will continue at the high elevations through the afternoon, with some snowflakes possible in town by the end of the day. Clearing later on Tuesday may be followed by a small, quick-moving storm midweek ahead of a nice couple of days to end the workweek.
An atmospheric river originating near Hawaii, the so-called Pineapple Express, has been carried over our area by southwest winds ahead of a strong trough of low pressure that crossed the West Coast early this morning. The saturated atmosphere has generated flood watches in southern Colorado, concurrent with high-elevation winter storm warnings. In fact, Wolf Creek opened for its first day of the season on Saturday before closing today as a precaution due to flooding in the county, staying closed until the mandatory evacuation order in Archuleta County is lifted.
Moisture took longer to arrive over our area, with rain showers beginning this afternoon at all elevations. The trough will move through the Great Basin tonight, continuing the precipitation overnight ahead of a strong cold front by daybreak. Snow levels drop to 8,000′ by Monday morning and 7,500′ by the evening, with 3-6” of snow possible above 9,000′ as high-elevation snowfall continues in the favorable cold, moist, and unstable northwest flow behind the cold front. Most of the low-elevation rain should be over by noon, but with highs only in the low 40s, below our 50-degree average, there may be some snowflakes in town.
Tuesday should be a nice day with some afternoon sun and highs in the upper 40s, before a quick-moving Pacific storm crossing the northern California coast on Tuesday afternoon approaches our area on Wednesday. Weather forecast models show uncertainty about the storm’s track, but there could be light rain showers from Wednesday afternoon through the night, with highs in the low 50s.
The workweek should end with dry weather and near-average temperatures, with weather models disagreeing on a quick-moving storm from the Pacific Northwest on Saturday. So enjoy the changing weather this week, and I’ll have more details about the possible weekend storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Nice Friday to be followed by unsettled Saturday and precipitation Sunday
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Mostly sunny skies filtered by high clouds and temperatures near 60 degrees are over Steamboat Springs this Thursday mid-afternoon. After a nice Friday, several approaching storm systems, including the remnants of yet another hurricane- the fourth this season!- will bring cooler, unsettled weather on Halloween, followed by significant precipitation on Sunday. A strong cold front by Monday morning will ensure that some of the precipitation falls as snow.
A ridge of high pressure tilting northwestward from the Southeast is responsible for the warm temperatures above our 52-degree average this week. However, three weather systems will attack the ridge as they approach our area: the remnants of Hurricane Vance south of Baja, a developing storm elongating along the West Coast, and an old eddy in the east-central Pacific left over from the Pacific Northwest trough last weekend.
The hurricane’s remnants are already being drawn overhead by the southwest winds ahead of the developing West Coast storm. However, the moisture is confined to the atmosphere’s highest levels, with no rain chances. The hurricane’s moisture hasn’t affected the high-pressure ridge overhead, so Friday will be very pleasant and mostly sunny, with highs in the low 60s.
Meanwhile, a plume of tropical moisture from southeast of Hawaii, an atmospheric river euphemistically referred to as the Pineapple Express, has developed behind the former hurricane and is being directed at Southern California by both the central Pacific eddy and the developing West Coast storm.
That changes on Halloween as some of the Pineapple Express sneaks toward our area from Southern California. Highs will cool to the low 50s on Saturday, with a chance of showers, though they should be quite light as they interact with the weakening ridge.
Another storm developing south of the Aleutian Islands this weekend will push both the West Coast trough and the Pacific eddy eastward by mid-weekend. A strong and cold storm develops as the offshore eddy is ingested by the cold trough, crossing the Great Basin on Sunday. Energy and moisture ejecting ahead of the storm will start heavier showers by Sunday afternoon, with rain showers turning to snow at the high elevations Sunday night as the cold front approaches.
Snow levels start around 10,500′, but fall to 8,500′ as the cold front blasts through Sunday night or Monday morning. It may be cold enough for some snowflakes in town by Monday night, though most of the precipitation should have fallen. The storm center should be southeast of our area by Monday night, bringing continued showers on Tuesday in the favorable cold, moist, and unstable northwesterly flow behind the storm, or perhaps slightly less-favorable northerly flow.
Early indications are for around 3-6” of snow by Tuesday morning at and above mid-mountain, but the forecast is still changing on every model run, so amounts are uncertain.
Be sure to enjoy the nice pre-Halloween weather, prepare for the colder, wetter post-Halloween weather, and I’ll have more details and updated snowfall guesses in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Nice workweek to follow a last round of showers today
Sunday, October 25, 2026
After a night of moonlit fog in Steamboat Springs, captured below as a time-lapse from 6 pm Saturday to noon today, a couple of hours of late-morning sun is yielding to cloudy skies ahead of another round of afternoon and evening showers. But the sun returns by Monday afternoon, with warming temperatures and mostly clear skies persisting for most of the workweek. A more substantial storm is forecast for around next weekend, or shortly after.
An eddy left over from the previous storm is moving toward Colorado from Arizona. Increasing clouds will precede the start of showers later this afternoon as energy from the approaching eddy rotates northward around the frontside of the eddy.
Snow levels are now just above mountaintop, and fall to around 8,500′ by Monday morning, so showers starting later this afternoon may lead to minor snowfall accumulations at higher elevations as the eddy moves overhead.
Skies should be clearing Monday morning, with mostly sunny skies by the afternoon and high temperatures in the low 50s, just below our 54-degree average.
Meanwhile, the northern part of a storm that split in the Gulf of Alaska on Friday is over Vancouver, while the southern part has formed an eddy which will weaken and loiter over the east-central Pacific this week. While most of the Vancouver part of the storm is forecast to be pushed eastward on Monday by a quick-moving pulse of cold air from Siberia, the central Pacific eddy may be a player in our next storm as the Siberian wave settles over Vancouver by midweek before elongating southward along the West Coast by the end of the workweek.
By Tuesday, the Vancouver eddy will have crossed Idaho and moved into Montana, staying north of our area and bringing a breezy Tuesday afternoon. A ridge of high pressure begins building over the Great Plains behind the storm, keeping mostly sunny skies overhead and allowing high temperatures to rise from the mid-50s on Tuesday toward 60 degrees on Wednesday, staying above average for the rest of the workweek.
While the workweek will be nice, it’s too early to speculate on Halloween’s weather, as that will depend upon the developing late-week storm along the West Coast and how it interacts with the decaying central Pacific eddy. I’ll have more details about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Friday afternoon to see a break in the showery weather lasting into Saturday
Thursday, October 22, 2026
A gray day is over Steamboat Springs this Thursday mid-afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 50s and light rain showers. A storm to our west, in cahoots with the remnants of Hurricane Trudy, will split tomorrow, bringing a break in the showery weather lasting from Friday until at least Saturday afternoon. The southern part of the split may bring more showery weather later on Saturday and again Sunday before a nice start to the workweek.
The California eddy discussed in my last weather narrative is moving into Nevada after directing the tropical moisture from former Hurricane Trudy over the Intermountain West. A wave traveling across the Pacific Northwest will split, with the northern part forcing some of the eddy northeastward toward Idaho and Montana on Friday and the southern part helping to reform the eddy over Arizona by Saturday.
After continuing showers through tonight, drier air between these features should bring mostly sunny skies from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning. Uncertainty remains about how quickly the Arizona eddy moves northeastward, which affects our afternoon and evening shower chances through the weekend, as monsoonal moisture from the south is directed northward by the southerly winds ahead of the eddy.
Increasing clouds Saturday afternoon may bring slight shower chances after high temperatures reach around 60 degrees on Friday and low 60s on Saturday, above our 55-degree average. Good shower chances appear by Sunday afternoon or evening as the Arizona eddy approaches, with clouds keeping the high temperature in the upper 50s.
It should be cold enough for an inch or two of snow at mountaintop by Monday morning. If the eddy moves as fast as forecast, sunny skies should return by Monday afternoon, with high temperatures falling to the low-to-mid-50s behind the storm. The nice weather should last through Tuesday, before longer-range weather forecast models disagree on the speed and southern extent of another storm moving through the Gulf of Alaska and possibly grazing our area around midweek.
So enjoy the sunny periods on Friday and Saturday, and I’ll have more details on the possible midweek storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
