Warm and breezy ahead of dry cold front to arrive Monday night
Sunday, June 16, 2024
A very pleasant late Sunday morning is over Steamboat Springs this Father’s Day with temperatures approaching seventy degrees and nary a cloud in the sky. A couple of warm and breezy afternoons will precede a cold front Monday night bringing cooler weather for Tuesday and Wednesday. But the heat returns by Thursday along with a surge of moisture accompanied by rain chances for the end of the workweek.
A ridge of high pressure currently sits over the East while a trough of low pressure is centered over Vancouver. A wave of energy rotating around the Vancouver storm will carry a dry cold front through the Great Basin Monday and our area Monday night. Warm temperatures approaching the mid-eighties, between five and ten degrees above our 77 F average, will be accompanied by increasing winds from the southwest this afternoon and even more so on Monday as the cold front approaches.
High temperatures will only be around seventy degrees on a dry Tuesday which would be the first below-average reading in the last ten days. Average temperatures on Wednesday with a slight chance of afternoon showers will precede a trip back to the low-eighties on Thursday as a surge of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico overspreads Colorado.
Interestingly, the moisture surge will be due to the the eastern dome of high pressure flattening and squirting westward thanks to energy and cold air ejecting from the Vancouver low pressure area and moving across the U.S. and Canadian border. Winds rotating clockwise around the westward-moving high pressure cell will carry a deep layer of moisture northwards from the Gulf of Mexico and increase rain chances for our area by as early as Thursday afternoon. Coincidentally, the summer solstice occurs at 2:50 PM and marks the longest day of the year with fifteen hours and four minutes of daylight over our area.
Better rain chances are forecast for Friday as a wave of energy moving across the Pacific crosses the central California coast on Wednesday and interacts with the Gulf of Mexico moisture over our area by the end of the workweek. Enjoy the cooldown on Tuesday and be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for more details on those late workweek rain chances.
Cooler Friday ahead of a hot and mostly dry weekend
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Temperatures are in the mid-eighties under sunny skies this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. An approaching storm from the southwest will bring cooler temperatures on Friday with a chance for some showers during the day and night. But hot temperatures return on a Saturday with some low-end afternoon shower chances before even warmer temperatures and increasingly breezy conditions appear for Sunday.
An eddy of low pressure that spent the week vacationing off the coast of southern California is on the move thanks to a large and cold storm approaching the Pacific Northwest Coast from the Gulf of Alaska. The eddy is forecast to move across the Desert Southwest tonight and Colorado on Friday, bringing our high temperatures down from the upper-eighties today, over ten degrees above our average temperature of 75 F, to around 80 F on Friday.
Precipitation looked more substantial several days ago, but the amount of moisture in the storm has decreased, limiting the amount of rain we may see from periodic showers that should last through Friday and Friday night.
Saturday will start a bit cooler than the last few days, with lows several degrees above our average of 39 F, but lots of sun will allow the high temperatures to rise back to the low-eighties. There will also be a chance of some afternoon and evening storms thanks to moisture left behind from the Friday storm.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest storm will rotate toward the Great Basin on Sunday, and breezy winds from the southwest ahead of the storm will accompany the mid-eighty degree high temperatures. This looks to persist through Monday as the Pacific Northwest storm moves through the Great Basin, with dry and substantially cooler weather advertised for Tuesday.
Enjoy your weekend, and check back for more details on the Tuesday cool-down in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Mostly dry with mid-eighties by midweek
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-seventies, on their way to the low eighties, are over the Steamboat Springs area this Sunday noon. Some sparse clouds may produce a shower or two on Monday before the warmest temperatures of the season in the mid-eighties appear by midweek. Cooler and wetter weather may arrive at the end of the workweek and the start of next weekend.
An eddy of low pressure from off the coast of Baja is now moving across the Desert Southwest thanks to a wave of low pressure crossing the West Coast. The wave is forecast to split, with the northern end grazing our area by Monday night and the southern end forming another eddy off the coast of southern California.
The Baja eddy originally looked like it would move close enough to our area for showers, but now the slightly stronger northern wave will keep the eddy over southern Colorado. So precipitation today is unlikely, with a chance for a shower or two on Monday.
After high temperatures in the low-eighties today, almost ten degrees above our average of 74 F, some clouds on Monday will drop high temperatures to around eighty degrees. And those temperatures will persist on a dry Tuesday as a weak cool front from that northern wave grazes our area Monday night.
A flat ridge of high pressure behind the grazing wave to our north and ahead of the southern California eddy to our southwest will bring mostly sunny skies by midweek and the warmest temperatures of the season so far, reaching the mid-eighties on Wednesday and nudging above that on Thursday. But the record high temperature on Thursday of 89 F recorded in 1918 looks safe.
Meanwhile, a storm over the Aleutian Islands is forecast to approach the West Coast near the end of the work week and force the southern California eddy to move over the Desert Southwest and toward our area by the start of next weekend. If the remnants of the eddy move overhead as currently predicted, we could see a good chance of showers and cooler temperatures by later Friday. But that forecast may change, so be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for the latest details on the weather for next weekend.
Summery weather with shower chances to last through the weekend
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Temperatures in Steamboat Springs are just shy of the eighty-degree mark under cloudless skies this Thursday mid-afternoon. These summery temperatures will be accompanied by afternoon and evening shower chances starting on Friday and lasting through the beginning of next week, with the best chances of wetting rain on Saturday and Monday.
A ridge of high pressure centered over the Desert Southwest is responsible for our first day in the eighties this season. While today will be dry, moisture will return to our area by Friday as a shallow wave of moisture approaches our area from the Pacific Northwest. Mostly sunny skies through much of the day will allow temperatures to climb back to the low-eighties on Friday, almost ten degrees above our average of 73 F.
Clouds will appear in the afternoon with shower chances lingering through the evening, though any showers are likely to produce more wind than rain as the lower atmosphere remains quite dry. But that changes on Saturday as the Pacific Northwest wave moves overhead, possibly starting showers that produce wetting rains as early as noon and dropping high temperatures back into the mid-seventies. The earlier start time of the showers means they should end earlier in the day too, with dry skies expected by the evening.
Meanwhile, a lobe of energy and moisture slingshot around a storm over the Aleutian Islands is forecast to elongate along the West Coast late Saturday. The southern end is forecast to cut off from the main jet stream and form another eddy that dislodges the Baja eddy before taking its place while the northern end is forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast.
While Sunday will start sunny, moisture from the now northeastward-moving Baja eddy should bring some clouds and a modest chance for showers later in the day, even as the high temperature rebounds to the eighty-degree mark. However, good chances for showers exist for Monday as the northern part of the approaching wave combines with moisture from the Baja eddy.
But that is after the weekend, so enjoy the summery weather and I’ll be back Sunday afternoon with more details on how much moisture we can expect to start the workweek.
Showers to bookend the workweek with eighties by Thursday
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Temperatures are approaching seventy degrees under mostly sunny skies late this Sunday morning in Steamboat Springs. Two weather disturbances will bring a chance for showers today and later Monday that could extend through the night. After a cooldown on Tuesday, temperatures warm under sunny skies, breaching the eighty-degree mark for the first time this season on Thursday.
An active jet stream across the northern Pacific and northern North America will carry two weather disturbances across our area over the next two days, with the first bringing a chance of afternoon and evening storms today and the second stronger disturbance bringing a better chance of evening and overnight storms extending into early Tuesday morning.
Temperatures through Monday will be a degree or two warmer than our average of 72 F, but the second disturbance will be strong enough to shave about five degrees off Monday’s high temperature and make for a breezy Tuesday afternoon with winds from the west.
A ridge of high pressure is then forecast to build along the West Coast behind the second system bringing warming temperatures and dry weather to our area through Thursday. The high temperature will be back into the mid-seventies on Wednesday and reach the low eighties for the first time this season on Thursday.
Meanwhile, an area of low pressure left behind off the coast of Baja is forecast to strengthen through the workweek before being nudged onshore around next weekend. While the eighty-degree temperatures will persist into the beginning of the weekend, moisture moving northward ahead of the Baja storm will bring the chance for showers back to our area as soon as Friday.
So, relish the midweek summery weather, and be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon to see if wetter weather for the weekend is still in the forecast.
