More wet weather to arrive for the weekend
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Temperatures are near seventy degrees this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs with a mix of sun and clouds. After several gorgeous fall days with mostly sunny skies, the increasing clouds mark the arrival of tropical moisture from a former hurricane that will bring significant rainfall to our area on Friday and Saturday. A strong cold front this mid-weekend follows, bringing cool and showery weather to start Sunday, with moisture decreasing from Sunday afternoon through the beginning of the next workweek.
The changing fall colors have migrated to the lowest elevations, and leaves are dropping rapidly. To celebrate this spectacular fall, I have a month-long time-lapse from Steamboat’s Four Points cam starting September 7th that looks down Twister toward the South Valley. The color peaked for the three days starting on September 22 at around 9,700′, right on schedule, progressing downward in elevation before peaking two weeks later at around the 9,080′ level of Thunderhead Lodge. Both September 23, our first snowfall, and September 27 were omitted due to the cloudy conditions.
Now, a ridge of high pressure sits over Texas, an eddy of low pressure lies off the Pacific Northwest coast, and former Hurricane Priscilla is moving northeastward between these features. Enough moisture has made it to our area for a quick shower that just now left a tenth of an inch of rain near the Steamboat Ski Area.
But this is just a prelude; a much stronger push of moisture arrives Friday morning, starting showers before noon that will last through the rest of the day and overnight. Meanwhile, the eddy off the Pacific Northwest will be pushed eastward by a storm moving through Alaska, eventually ingesting some cold from western Canada as the two storms briefly phase by Saturday afternoon.
Showers will continue on Saturday and overnight as some of the Alaska storm is absorbed into the eddy and some moves southward along the West Coast. A cold front is forecast to move through late Saturday night or early Sunday, bringing snow levels down to 8,500′, or possibly 8,000′, though only minor accumulations are expected as the coldest air arrives as the moisture is dwindling.
After high temperatures in the low sixties on Friday and Saturday, right at our average of sixty-two degrees, the showers on Sunday morning should end by the afternoon, with some sun appearing, though high temperatures will be relegated to only the low fifties in the cool post-frontal air mass.
Between the departing storm and the new storm forming along the West Coast, temperatures will rebound to around average to start the work week with a mostly sunny Monday morning. However, uncertainty arises as early as Monday afternoon, as moisture from another tropical system off the coast of Baja may or may not be directed northeastward toward our area by the southwest winds ahead of the new storm and behind the eastward-moving Texas ridge of high pressure.
Let’s hope for the forecast beneficial rainfall, and I’ll have more details on the West Coast storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Weather to turn warmer and sunnier through the workweek
Sunday, October 5, 2025
Temperatures are in the cool lower fifties early this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs, on their way to only the mid-fifties, with partly sunny skies behind the cold front on Saturday. Temperatures will warm back towards seventy degrees by midweek, with increasingly sunny skies, before the weather turns unsettled around next weekend.
The spectacular color show this fall has migrated to the lower elevations, but not before we enjoyed beautiful weather last week to view the spectacle. These two photos highlight some of the color on the Pioneer Trail at the Steamboat Ski Area on Thursday, though yesterday’s storm, which left between two and four-tenths of an inch of rain around town, including some pea-sized hail and brief upper-mountain snowfall when the cold front passed through just after noon, surely would have thinned or removed some of that foliage.
Similar to yesterday, we have another fifty-degree day today, with more clouds than sun, which is around ten degrees below our average of sixty-five degrees. An approaching ridge of high pressure behind the storm will bring warming temperatures and increasingly sunny skies through the workweek, but not before part of the lingering southern portion of the storm, which has elongated toward the Desert Southwest, reluctantly moves through on Monday.
Temperatures will approach sixty degrees on Monday with more sun than clouds, though a stray shower can’t be ruled out as the storm leftovers pass. Mostly sunny skies with temperatures near average are forecast for Tuesday, rising to near seventy degrees on Wednesday, and the low seventies by Thursday, with continued mostly sunny skies.
Meanwhile, a storm in the Bering Sea is forecast to move across the Gulf of Alaska early in the workweek before elongating along the West Coast midweek, with the southern end of the storm briefly forming an eddy. Additionally, Tropical Storm Priscilla, south of Baja, is forecast to reach hurricane status before weakening and moving northward.
Another pulse of energy is forecast to move across the Gulf of Alaska, forcing the West Coast storm inland around the end of the workweek and towards our area by around next weekend. However, there is uncertainty regarding whether the entire tropical storm will be absorbed, or just some of its moisture, and where in the Great Basin that occurs. While we could see unsettled weather as early as Friday, it may hold off for part of the weekend. Regardless, the storm is cold enough to bring at least some high-elevation snowfall.
So enjoy the pleasant workweek ahead, and I’ll have more details on next weekend’s storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon. Additionally, I have been archiving the Steamboat Four Points webcam images for the last month, and hope to have a time-lapse of the changing aspen trees.
Fall storm to bring colder and wetter weather starting Friday night
Thursday, October 2, 2025
A stunning fall day is over Steamboat Springs this Thursday mid-afternoon, with temperatures in the low seventies and mostly sunny skies. Increasing clouds by Friday afternoon mark a change in the weather, with an approaching fall storm bringing precipitation and cooler temperatures by Friday night that will continue through Saturday, with some snowfall accumulations above 9000′. Behind the storm, precipitation should end by Sunday as temperatures remain cool.
A trough of low pressure extending southward from Vancouver, our incoming fall storm, is moving across the West Coast as a ridge of high pressure extends westward from the East. A separate storm, racing across the Gulf of Alaska, will keep the fall storm moving across California early Friday and the Great Basin Friday night, increasing clouds and breezes over our area by Friday afternoon, but not before high temperatures reach the mid-seventies, almost ten degrees above our sixty-six-degree average.
Energy ejecting out ahead of the storm will start precipitation by Friday evening, with waves of showers continuing through the night in breezy southwest winds. Showers may be spottier Saturday morning, before the cold front associated with the storm passes through around noon, bringing increasing westerly winds, an increased chance of thunderstorms, and lowering snow levels to 9,000′ by Saturday afternoon. We could see several inches of accumulation on the mountain, so be sure to check Steamboat’s Powdercam and Mid-Powdercam for the action.
Temperatures will struggle to reach the sixties on Saturday as the Gulf of Alaska storm moves across western Canada, bringing reinforcing cool air during the day. Lighter precipitation may linger into Saturday evening before winds switch back to the southwest on Sunday, bringing drier air overhead on a similarly cool Sunday.
Temperatures will warm toward average to start the workweek, with partly sunny skies on Monday turning mostly sunny by Tuesday. There may be enough additional reinforcing cold air during the weekend to elongate the southern part of the trough towards Baja, after which there is uncertainty regarding whether an eddy forms and whether a tropical disturbance moves toward our area by the following weekend.
So be sure to take advantage of another couple of the dwindling seventy-degree days left in the season today and Friday, and I’ll have more details on the possible storms for next week in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Some shower chances to start the week
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Temperatures have fallen from around seventy degrees to the mid-sixties this Sunday afternoon in Steamboat Springs as some thunderstorms passed to our east and west. There is a chance for additional showers this evening as the first part of an approaching storm moves overhead, with the second part bringing less chances for showers on Monday afternoon. Energy ejecting from a large and cold storm now in the Gulf of Alaska will graze our area on Tuesday afternoon for another chance of showers before drier weather appears starting Wednesday and lasts through the workweek.
An eddy that was over central California has moved into Arizona, stretching northeastward into Colorado as a piece of energy ejects from the storm. The rumbles of thunder and shower chances will continue through the evening before resuming again Monday afternoon as the remaining piece of the eddy moves overhead.
Meanwhile, the large and cold Gulf of Alaska storm will rotate towards the West Coast, crossing it on Monday and grazing our area as it is deflected to the northeast by a ridge of high pressure over the Midwest. Tuesday will have another chance of afternoon and evening showers, with high temperatures similar to Monday and near seventy degrees.
Additional upstream energy is forecast to strengthen and stall the original Gulf of Alaska storm over the Pacific Northwest by midweek. Drier air will be carried over our area by southwest winds ahead of the storm, allowing a degree or two of warming for Wednesday and mid-seventies on Thursday.
The Pacific Northwest storm is forecast to move toward our area as additional energy moves through the Gulf of Alaska, though there is weather forecast model uncertainty regarding the speed of the storm. We may see cooler, wetter weather as soon as Friday, or it may be delayed until the weekend.
That will become clearer by my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon. Until then, be sure to get outside and enjoy the fall spectacle while there is still good color, as the mid and high-elevation aspen are starting to shed their leaves.
Gorgeous weekend to end with showers
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Perfect temperatures in the low seventies and sunny skies are over Steamboat Springs late this Thursday afternoon. The gorgeous weather will continue through Saturday, offering plenty of opportunity to enjoy the spectacular colors of fall. An approaching storm may bring some clouds by Saturday afternoon, ahead of possible showers by Sunday afternoon and evening.
A ridge of high pressure over the Rockies is sandwiched between an eddy of low pressure over central California and the trough of low pressure extending southwestward from the Great Lakes which brought us our First Snow on Tuesday. I’ve included a time-lapse of the Steamboat Powedercam at the top of Sunshine Peak between 3 am, when the first flakes started falling, and 1 pm, when most of the accumulation was over.
But after just over an inch of precipitation in town between Saturday and Tuesday, the ridge of high pressure overhead has brought quintessential Colorado fall weather featuring beautiful sunny days and cool, clear nights. The aspen trees and underbrush have been provoked into a brilliant show of color, as shown by one of the many pictures I snapped today near Buffalo Pass.
Friday and Saturday should offer similarly nice weather to get out and enjoy the show, with possibly some clouds by Friday afternoon as a storm well to our north moves across Montana and Wyoming, and Saturday afternoon as the California eddy is eventually forced northeastward by a developing storm in the Gulf of Alaska.
There is still uncertainty with the evolution and track of the eddy, which is currently predicted to wobble for a few days over southern California before moving to Arizona on Sunday, and being absorbed into the southwest winds of the jet stream ahead of the Gulf of Alaska storm as it moves across Colorado on Monday.
Monsoonal moisture carried northward by southerly winds rotating counterclockwise around the eddy will reach us as early as Saturday afternoon, with some possible cloudiness. We’ll likely see a mostly cloudy Sunday, with a chance of afternoon and evening showers as energy ejecting from the weakening eddy lifts the monsoonal moisture, causing condensation as the lifted air cools. What is left of the eddy will pass over our area on Monday, bringing another chance of showers.
Meanwhile, the Gulf of Alaska storm is expected to rotate toward the West Coast through the weekend and may or may not affect us around midweek, depending on its strength and track. I’ll have more details about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, be sure to get out and enjoy the spectacular colors on display at all elevations around town this weekend.
