Breezy winds with some storms possible through midweek
Sunday, August 6, 2023
Breezy winds and temperatures in the upper seventies are over the Steamboat Springs area early this Sunday afternoon with thunderstorms to our north and south. Several disturbances will pass near the northern Colorado border and our area through the work week, continuing the breezy winds and modest chances for showers.
The hot air associated with a flat ridge of high pressure centered over the Desert Southwest is being kept south of our area by a strong-for-early-Augst jet stream extending from the southern Gulf of Alaska across the northern Great Basin and into the central U.S. Our proximity to the jet stream will keep the breezy winds around for the work week as several Pacific waves embedded within the jet stream, in addition to waves rotating around the northern periphery of the ridge of high pressure to our south, periodically move through the area.
While afternoon heat may lead to thunderstorm activity, the upward motion associated with these waves can also support the storms, as evidenced by the last several days of nocturnal, or overnight, thunderstorms in our area.
It looks like we will have modest chances of showers later today through about Wednesday morning, including possibly overnight, as these waves periodically pass near our area. These showers are not likely to produce a lot of rain, though brief locally moderate rain and gusty winds are possible with any of them.
High temperatures look to remain around eighty degrees today and Thursday, several degrees below our average of 83 F, with slightly cooler temperatures in the mid to upper seventies through midweek thanks the cooler air and clouds associated with the waves.
Dry weather with more of the same comfortable temperatures look to close out the work week and start next weekend, though we may start to see some moisture returning during the middle of the weekend associated with a possible return of the monsoon, as well as a tropical disturbance bubbling up from Baja. So be sure to check back Thursday afternoon for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative where I’ll highlight the weather for the coming weekend.
High temperatures around eighty degrees and drying skies for the weekend
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Temperatures are in the upper seventies with some storms passing by Steamboat Springs on this Thursday mid afternoon. Drier air from the southwest will approach our area for the weekend, but its northern extent will be limited by winds over northern Colorado generally from the west and northwest. This means slight chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms along with high temperatures around eighty degrees.
The monsoonal push of moisture this week was not nearly as productive as advertised, and though we received rain every day this week, rain totals around town only amounted to between a tenth and a tenth and a half of an inch.
A Pacific wave currently over southwestern Wyoming is forecast to lift into north central Wyoming tomorrow and partially merge with a Pacific wave moving southeastward across the Canadian Plains. The resulting storm will strengthen as it moves into South Dakota on Saturday, and we will see our winds turning to be from the current southwest to the west on Friday and northwest by Saturday behind the storm.
Dry air currently over California is forecast to move toward the Four Corners on Friday, but its northern extent will be limited by the winds associated with the Wyoming storm. It looks like the most significant drying will be over areas to our south, so the lingering moisture means slight chances for afternoon and evening storms on Friday and Saturday for the Steamboat area. Temperatures will be quite pleasant with highs around eighty degrees, four degrees below our average of 84 F, and lows within several degrees of our average of 47 F.
Storm chances increase modestly for Sunday as another Pacific disturbance slips in behind the Wyoming storm and grazes our area as the pleasant temperatures persist.
Even though the ridge of high pressure currently centered over the Gulf Coast states is forecast to move back westward to the Desert Southwest and amplify through the next work week, its northern extent will be limited by additional Pacific waves moving over or near our area. So look for continued comfortable temperatures and slight storm chances to start the work week, and I’ll be back with my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon to discuss if this pleasant weather lasts through the week.
Rain chances high for most of the work week
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Temperatures are already around eighty degrees in Steamboat Springs under sunny skies late this Sunday morning. Today will be the hottest day of the week with high temperatures once again around ninety degrees before significant moisture belatedly arrives in the first monsoonal surge of the season. Good precipitation chances will exist through at least midweek as high temperatures gradually cool into the seventies ahead of a possibly brief drying trend for the end of the work week.
An upper level ridge of high pressure is currently sitting over the West while a lower level ridge of high pressure is located over Oklahoma. Clockwise flow around the Oklahoma high pressure is bringing moisture from Mexico northward over the Desert Southwest on the backside of the high in a belated arrival of the North American Monsoon.
We’ve already seen some of the moisture over our area this weekend, which is earlier than I thought in last Thursday’s weather narrative, and this has led to some thunderstorms producing as much as a few hundredths of an inch of rainfall scattered around town along with gusty winds yesterday. This additional moisture has also lead to warmer overnight lows around five degrees above our average low temperature of 47 F as it insulates the earth like a blanket.
More of the same is on tap for today as high temperatures once again rise to around five degrees above our average high of 84 F, with modest chances for afternoon and overnight storms. But those chances increase on Monday as copious moisture arrives over our area and precipitation is enhanced by disturbances rotating along western periphery of the high pressure centered over Oklahoma through midweek.
Wetting rains associated with monsoonal surges are usually on the meager side near the beginning as the atmosphere moistens, but look for increasing precipitation chances as storms form later in the day and overnight Monday. And high temperatures will cool to around average thanks to the cloud cover, though those overnight clouds will also keep low temperatures mild and in the low fifties.
Unfortunatley, the same winds transporting the moisture overhead will also transport smoke from the recently started York wildfire in California, located near the southern tip of Nevada, over our area starting tonight and lasting through Monday according to the latest NOAA smoke plume model.
Good chances for wetting rains exist on Tuesday and Wednesday both during the day and overnight as the core of the monsoonal moisture surge remains overhead and high temperatures cool to the mid-seventies. By Thursday, the monsoonal moisture plume is interrupted by winds turning to be from the west ahead of several Pacific disturbances moving inland. Significantly, this is the first time this season the Pacific jet stream has enough energy to modify the persistent ridge of high pressure over the West, and the jet stream will only strengthen going forward as cold air begins to build over the North Pole.
There will likely be enough residual moisture for afternoon and evening storms on Thursday with continued high temperatures in the mid-seventies, with some brief drying ahead of what looks like a period of northwest flow and embedded thunderstorms heading into next weekend. So be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon where I’ll be discussing this upcoming pattern change and what it means for next weekend.
Good moisture arrives after hot and dry weekend
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Temperatures are right at our average of 84 F in Steamboat Springs under partly sunny skies this Thursday mid afternoon. What little moisture that is around today may produce some passing showers with more wind than rain, but will be replaced by dry air on Friday and temperatures approaching ninety degrees through the weekend. But a subtle pattern change starting at the end of the weekend promises good precipitation chances next week.
A flat ridge of high pressure currently sits over most of the U.S. while a storm in the Gulf of Alaska approaches the Vancouver area. Some afternoon thunderstorms have developed over the higher terrain of Colorado to our southwest, and along with the increased cloud cover we may see some passing showers with more wind than rain later today and this evening.
The storm near Vancouver is forecast to loiter near the coast through most of the weekend before being forced eastward early next week by incoming Pacific energy. What little moisture that has been around our area these last few days will replaced with dry air currently extending westward from Nevada as winds ahead of the Vancouver storm carry hot air northward and amplify the ridge of high pressure over the length of the Rocky Mountains.
So look for mostly sunny skies starting on Friday and lasting through much of the weekend. High temperatures will rise again to around ninety degrees, though the drier air will allow nighttime temperatures to fall back to around our pleasantly cool average of 47 F.
But a favorable pattern change is promised starting at the end of the weekend as that now eastward moving Vancouver storm disrupts the ridge of high pressure over the Rockies. While most of the ridge stays put, a high pressure cell from the southern end of the ridge is dislodged eastward towards Oklahoma. As winds spin clockwise around the high pressure cell, winds from the south on the backside of the ridge will carry moisture northward and over our area in a classic North American Monsoon pattern.
Clouds will be on the increase later Sunday with a small chance of showers late in the day and overnight, with significant moisture and great precipitation chances currently advertised from Monday through midweek.
So enjoy the hot and dry summer days ahead with its cool nights, and I’ll be back with more details on what is looking like a healthy monsoonal pattern in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Hot temperatures only cool a bit by midweek as thunderstorm chances increase
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Temperatures are already in the mid eighties in Steamboat Springs under mostly sunny skies early this Sunday afternoon. High temperatures will approach ninety degrees today and low nineties tomorrow with only a slight chance of an afternoon or evening storm that would likely produce more wind than rain. High temperatures cool toward the mid eighties by midweek as moisture and chances for showers increase modestly.
A large ridge of high pressure is currently over the West while a large storm is located in the Gulf of Alaska. That storm has been slowly moving eastward, and this has pushed the ridge of high pressure eastward as well, placing it directly overhead today and tomorrow. Expect hot high temperatures well above our average of 84 F approaching ninety degrees today and even several degrees warmer on Monday.
Before the ridge moved overhead, we saw winds from the northwest on Friday and Saturday transport a bit of smoke from wildfires burning along the Idaho and Montana borders to our area. But as the ridge has moved eastward, winds have shifted to be more from the west and the smoke plume forecast model shows smoke clearing the area.
Similar to last week, that Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to move eastward across the northern Rockies through midweek, flattening the ridge of high pressure and nudging it further east. Moisture originating from around the Gulf of California is forecast to first move northward around the ridge and then eastward over our area on Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly Thursday, leading to increasing cloud cover and shower chances. However, like last week, the chances for rain hitting the ground are modest, and any storms will also produce gusty winds as some of the precipitation evaporates before reaching the ground in the dry lower levels of the atmosphere.
Wednesday looks like the coolest day of the week with near average temperatures before the ridge of high pressure rebounds and moves back westward behind the still eastward moving Gulf of Alaska storm. High temperatures look to move back to the upper eighties for the end of the work week as the atmosphere dries, and that looks to continue to start the following weekend.
Let’s hope for some wetting rains centered around midweek, and be sure to check back Thursday afternoon for my next regularly scheduled weather narrative where I’ll look at the position of the ridge of high pressure for the end of the weekend and whether moisture can make it back to our area.
