Hot and dry for the weekend
Thursday, July 20, 2023
After a shower passed through Steamboat Springs just after this Thursday noon, mostly sunny skies with comfortable temperatures in the mid seventies and relatively high humidities are over our area this mid afternoon. Another quick shower later today cannot be ruled out before drier air invades our area starting on Friday with temperatures rising back toward ninety degrees for the weekend.
A ridge of high pressure is currently over the northern Rockies while a weak wave to its south is over northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, and our area. This wave was responsible for about the tenth of an inch of rain we received just after midnight last night and the couple of hundredths we received just after noon.
Southerly flow ahead of a storm currently in the Gulf of Alaska will force the ridge of high pressure to amplify over the West through the weekend, bringing dry air and warming temperatures to our area. Temperatures will rise to right around our average of 84 F on Friday, with continued sunny skies allowing temperatures to rise into the upper eighties on Saturday and once again breach ninety degrees on Sunday and Monday. The high temperature record for Sunday is 93 F, which will be close to being threatened, but the record of 96 F for Monday appears safe.
There is a chance for some moisture to return to our area around midweek as it circulates around the periphery of a high pressure cell centered over the Four Corners states. This would be similar to the weather regime this midweek, with only modest chances for precipitation, but continued hot temperatures in the upper eighties.
Enjoy the beautiful summer weekend, and I’ll be back Sunday afternoon to discuss more details about the possible moisture for the following work week.
Some moisture for the work week after a hot Monday
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Temperatures in Steamboat Springs are near eighty degrees under mostly sunny skies early this Sunday afternoon, on their way to the upper eighties. Monday will be the hottest day of the summer so far with high temperatures breaching the ninety degree mark before some moisture makes it overhead by later Tuesday. Look for still warm, but decreasing, high temperatures this work week bottoming out in the low eighties by Thursday along with increasing chances of showers from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday night.
A storm is currently approaching the Vancouver coast while a persistent vortex of cold air still extends southward from Hudson Bay through the Great Lakes. A ridge of high pressure over the West sandwiched between these features is forecast to be pushed to the east by the Vancouver storm and be directly overhead on Monday, leading to the hottest day of the summer so far with high temperatures in the low nineties, almost ten degrees above our average of 84 F.
Some moisture originally from the south rotating clockwise around the high pressure will be encouraged to move over our area from the west as that Vancouver storm travels across the northern Rockies through midweek. High temperatures on Tuesday will fall back into the upper eighties as clouds invade the area along with a modest chance of showers by later afternoon and overnight.
An increasing chance of showers exists for Wednesday as temperatures cool further back toward average. Our best, but still modest, chance for precipitation this week should be on Thursday along with continued average temperatures as that original Vancouver storm eventually makes it to the Great Lakes.
Longer range weather forecast models have a decreasing chance of showers and slowly rising temperatures as we head into next weekend, and I’ll have more details about that in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Dry weather continues with some cooling to start the weekend
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Temperatures are in the low seventies under mostly sunny skies late this Thursday morning in Steamboat Springs. After another hot day today in the upper eighties, temperatures cool into the low eighties on Friday and Saturday before they warm toward the hottest day of the summer so far on Monday. Precipitation chances are nil through the weekend until some moisture sneaks into the region around midweek.
A flat and dry ridge of high pressure currently over the West is bookended by low pressure areas extending south from both the Gulf of Alaska and Hudson Bay. Cool air brought southward on the backside of the Hudson Bay low will graze our area and knock about five degrees off our high temperatures of the last few days as they cool to around our average of 83 F on Friday and 84 F on Saturday.
Incidentally, 84 F marks the highest average temperature of the summer, making the weeks between mid July and early August climatologically the hottest of the year.
And after a couple of days in the low eighties, Sunday’s high temperatures move back to the mid-eighties with Monday forecast to be the warmest day of the summer so far with our first ninety degree day. There is some relief by Tuesday as that Gulf of Alaska storm is forecast to move across the northern United States through the early work week and bring at least some mid and upper level moisture and clouds starting around Tuesday.
Eventually, longer term weather forecast models have that Gulf of Alaska storm merging with the Hudson Bay vortex around the end of the next work week, and that may force a ridge of high pressure to build over the West. This may allow moisture from the south to move northward over our area in what would be the beginning of our North American Monsoon, though that is uncertain as it is over a week away.
Enjoy what is looking like a very pleasant summer weekend, and I’ll be back with my regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon where I’ll discuss our precipitation chances from the incoming moisture.
Warmest temperatures of the summer so far by midweek
Sunday, July 9, 2023
A beautiful Sunday morning is over the Steamboat Springs area with temperatures near seventy degrees under mostly sunny skies. Other than some clouds on Monday with a small chance of showers, temperatures will warm from the low eighties starting today to the upper eighties by midweek with almost no chance of precipitation.
A ridge of high pressure currently extends from the Desert Southwest northward to the Arctic Circle while a large, cold and persistent vortex of cold air is centered over Hudson Bay. Additionally, a small and relatively dry eddy of weakening low pressure is over central California and is forecast to move through the Great Basin tonight and near our area on Monday.
After a mostly sunny day today with high temperatures right around our average of 83 F, we may see some clouds tomorrow and similar temperatures with only a small chance of passing showers as that Caifornia eddy moves overhead.
Temperatures warm further toward 85 F on a sunny Tuesday and upper eighties on a continued sunny Wednesday for the warmest day of the summer so far. Pacific energy traveling across the northern U.S. will eventually mix with cold air from the Hudson Bay vortex by midweek and keep relatively cool air over the upper Midwest through much of the work week. Some of this cooler air may graze our area as early as Thursday and knock high temperatures down a few degrees, with perhpas an additional few degrees trimmed on Friday.
But precipitation will be hard to come by, and this looks to continue through next weekend. So enjoy the summer work week ahead, and I’ll be back with my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon with details about the coming weekend weather.
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.
