Warming and drying weather through the weekend
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Comfortable temperatures in the low seventies with mostly sunny skies and breezy winds generally from the west are over the Steamboat Springs area this Thursday mid-afternoon. There will be a chance for some late day and evening showers thanks to a nearby cool front, with those chances decreasing for Friday along with slightly warmer temperatures. That trend continues on Saturday, and a dry Sunday should be the warmest day of the weekend.
Ridges of high pressure are currently over the Gulf of Alaska and the Desert Southwest extending to Texas while a deep vortex of cold air is centered over Hudson Bay. A cool front associated with cool air moving southward on the backside of the Hudson Bay vortex has been over or just north of our area the last few days, which has led to the thunder and lightning shows since Independence Day.
It looks like we will have a repeat performance later today and this evening, with the possibility of showers dropping off after midnight as the cool front is slowly pushed to our north thanks to the strengthening ridge of high pressure to our south.
We should see less of a chance for showers on Friday, with high temperatures reaching around eighty degrees, a couple degrees below our average of 82 F. That trend continues on Saturday as the cool front is nudged to the Wyoming border, though a stray shower producing more wind than rain cannot be ruled out.
Another bump in temperatures to right around average is forecast for Sunday under mostly sunny skies. The ridge of high pressure to our south looks to build over the central Rockies through much of next week, leading to above average temperatures with almost no chance of precipitation. We will likely see the warmest temperatures of the summer so far, and I’ll have more about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Shower chances increase starting Monday night
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Temperatures in the Steamboat Springs area are in the mid-seventies under mostly sunny skies with breezy winds from the west this Sunday mid-afternoon. While we may touch eighty degrees today, warmer high temperatures in the low eighties along with continued breezy winds are in the forecast for the rest of the work week. Accompanying the warmer temperatures will be chances for mainly afternoon and evening showers, highest on Indepedence Day, that may kick off as soon as Monday night.
A cold area of low pressure is currently located in central Alberta while a ridge of high pressure sits over the Desert Southwest. Our area is seeing breezy winds from the west as the jet stream is funneled between these features, and those winds look to remain over our area through the work week.
The Alberta storm is forecast to move toward Hudson Bay through midweek, with a wave of cool air moving south behind the storm and toward our area by Monday night. Monday should be mostly sunny and marginally the hottest day of the week by a degree or two with temperatures reaching several degrees above our average of 81 F.
Energy and some moisture moving along the approaching cool front will bring clouds with modest chances of nocturnal, or nighttime showers on Monday night, and though Independence Day should start sunny, those modest chances remain for Tuesday afternoon and evening. The cool front won’t do much to our high temperatures, only lowering them by a degree or two, but should make the daytime breezes stronger.
Decreasing chances for showers remain on Wednesday afternoon and evening behind the front, with even less of a chance by Thursday afternoon as the afternoon breezes persist. And though Friday is looking warm and dry, another cool front is forecast to approach our area sometime during the weekend, though that may have a tough time reaching our area thanks to the strengthening ridge of high pressure to our south.
I’ll know more about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon. So until then, enjoy the Fourth of July celebrations, and perhaps bring a waterproof shell to guard against any showers briefly dampening outdoor activities.
Afternoon storm chances highest on Friday and Independence Day
Thursday, June 29, 2023
The streak of cloudless skies this past week has ended on this Thursday as afternoon clouds and temperatures in the mid-seventies are over the Steamboat Springs area. These clouds may produce a shower today, but more likely on Friday as a weak cool front grazes our area. Generally dry weather and warming temperatures are then expected Saturday through Monday before another weak cool front brings afternoon and evening storm chances back for Independence Day.
The remnants of the eddy I talked about in last Sunday’s weather narrative is currently moving through Utah as originally forecast. The clouds over our area ahead of the eddy may produce a shower, though any rain would likely evaporate before reaching the ground thanks to the dry lower atmosphere and produce gusty winds.
What is left of the eddy is forecast to move through Colorado on Friday, and winds will shift to be first from the southwest in the morning ahead of the front to the west around noon with the front and finally the northwest by the afternoon behind the front.
Our best chance of showers should be along and behind the front, and even though there will be a better chance of wetting rains as compared to today, a fair bit of wind should still accompany any showers. High temperatures will fall into the low seventies, not quite ten degrees below our average of eighty degrees.
The atmosphere mostly dries for the rest of the weekend with temperatures warming into the upper seventies on Saturday, the low eighties by Sunday and mid-eighties on Monday under plenty of sun. There may be some afternoon clouds around, especially on Sunday, but precipitation should be hard to come by.
But a storm currently just east of the Aleutian Islands is forecast to cross the British Columbia coast on Saturday and travel into the Canadian Prairies by early week. Right now, weather forecast models agree another weak cool front associated with the storm will be dragged through our area around Independence Day, with chances for afternoon and evening storms.
But that is five days away, so be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon for the latest details on the Fourth of July holiday weather.
Warm, sunny and breezy work week ahead
Sunday, June 25, 2023
Temperatures are near seventy degrees with nary a cloud in the sky in Steamboat Springs this Sunday noon. A beautiful warm and sunny work week is ahead, along with afternoon breezes that will be strongest on Tuesday.
A summertime ridge of high pressure is currently over the U.S. Rockies while a trough of low pressure extends from the West Coast to the southwest. The trough is forecast to move across the Great Basin in pieces through the work week, though its movement will be slow thanks to the persistence and strength of the ridge of high pressure.
Very dry air from the Desert Southwest will be carried over our area this work week by breezy afternoon winds from the southwest channeled between the low and high pressure areas. Those breezes will be strongest and gustiest on Tuesday as a wave of energy ejects out of the low pressure area and passes overhead.
High temperatures will be right around our average of eighty degrees for the work week under mostly sunny skies. Weather forecast models agree that what remains of the trough of low pressure will eventually move over our area around Friday, along with a modest increase in at least mid and upper atmospheric moisture that will bring chances for afternoon and evening storms back into the forecast, along with several degrees of cooling.
So enjoy the gorgeous summer work week ahead, and I’ll be back with a look at what the storm chances will look like for next weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Beautiful summer weekend ahead
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Temperatures are close to eighty degrees under mostly sunny skies this Thursday mid-afternon in the town of Steamboat Springs. Beautiful summer weather is forecast through the weekend even as a storm moves by to our northwest and increases breezes on Friday and knocks temperatures back five degrees or so on Saturday.
An eddy left over from the southern part of that Vancouver storm I discussed last Sunday is on the move from just off the central California coast and is forecast to cross the Great Basin tonight and clip the corner of northwest Colorado tomorrow afternoon. We’ve seem some clouds around noon today thanks to energy ejecting out ahead of the eddy, and should also see increasing winds from the southwest on a mostly sunny Friday as what is left of the eddy nears.
The increasing winds will shift to be from the southwest during Friday to the west by the evening as a dry cool front associated with the eddy crosses the area. Breezes may turn to be from just north of west during a cool Saturday morning as high temperatures for the sunny day drop toward the low to mid-seventies, about five degrees below our average of 78 F.
After a pleasantly cool and comfortable Saturday, temperatures once again turn toward the upper seventies on a sunny Sunday as a ridge of high pressure rebuilds over the central and southern Rockies behind the departing eddy.
Gradually warming temperatures and mostly sunny skies are forecast to start the next work week, with the warmest temperatures of the summer so far expected on Tuesday. So enjoy our gorgeous first weekend of the summer, and I’ll be back with my next regularly scheduled weather narrative Sunday afternoon to discuss what currently looks like a continued stretch of warm and dry weather.
