Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Sunday night
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Another Pacific storm currently bringing precipitation to the Northwest will affect our weather by Tuesday as it moves across the Great Basin. High clouds will overspread the area late Monday and lower overnight as southwest winds become breezy. There may be rain showers in the valleys by Tuesday morning and snow showers higher on the hill as waves of energy begin to be ejected from the storm.
The cold front is currently forecast to cross the area around Tuesday evening bringing a burst of heavy snowfall down to the valley bottoms. Light to moderate snows will follow behind the front in cool and wet mostly northwest flow and last through noon or so on Wednesday. There is model uncertainty with respect to the timing of the front and the intensity of snowfall behind it, but current forecasts may have as much as 8-16” between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons on the mountain and 1-4” in the valleys.
Snow showers will likely stick around from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday in cool and moist northwest flow before another Pacific storm in still favorable northwest flow approaches the area around Friday.
Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Saturday night
Saturday, March 19, 2016
After a clear night and another cold morning, dry weather and much warmer temperatures will last through Monday, though there may be some clouds late Sunday and Monday.
Another Pacific storm forecast to cross the Northwest Sunday will affect our weather by Tuesday as it moves across the Great Basin. Clouds will overspread the area during the day and southwest winds will become breezy. There may be rain showers in the valleys by Tuesday afternoon and snow showers higher on the hill as waves of energy begin to be ejected from the storm.
The cold front is currently forecast to cross the area Tuesday night bringing wintry weather with possibly significant snow accumulations by Wednesday morning.
Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Friday night
Friday, March 18, 2016
Though we currently have clearing skies behind the departing storm, another couple of waves timed for tonight and Saturday night will continue to keep temperatures cool. Additionally, there is some moisture with tonight’s wave, so there may be isolated showers that occur overnight into tomorrow morning on the hill.
Strong drying occurs by Saturday night and lasts through Monday, accompanied by strong warming for Sunday and Monday.
A Pacific storm brings another round of precipitation to the Northwest coast beginning Sunday night and may affect us by Tuesday as it moves across the Great Basin.
Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Thursday night
Thursday, March 17, 2016
At 8 pm, I have about 5” of snow on my deck that fell in the last 3.5 hours hours or so and the Steamboat Powdercam has about the same. Satellite shows a ribbon of convection extending across northern Colorado, and the snowfall forecast will largely depend on how long this band sticks around. The short range model has this band dissipating around around mid-evening, which would mean another couple of inches, so I would expect 9-15” on the morning ski report including the 4” or so we had during the day today. Showers will decrease tonight and taper off during the day, especially in the valleys. The strong winds over the past few days will finally begin to moderate during the day.
Dry air looks to invade the area by Saturday with temperatures staying cool before warming occurs late in the day and more so on Sunday. Monday will also be warm before another Pacific storm threatens the area either later in the day or Tuesday.
Steamboat Springs area short term weather forecast from Wednesday night
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
A moderately strong wave in cool and moist northwest flow has sagged further south than earlier models forecast and will bring another round of snowfall to the area in continued windy conditions tonight and tomorrow. There will likely be a lull in snowfall this evening before snows pick up again after midnight and continues through the day Thursday.
Again, being an orographic or terrain-driven event, there will be more snow at the higher elevations. I would expect 1-3” in Steamboat by Thursday morning and 5-10” for the morning ski report. Though snow showers will continue in Craig and Steamboat during the day, accumulations should be minimal. The mountain, however, will likely see an additional 2-5” during the day, with some of that hopefully producing Steamboat Magic. This is what I call the period of time after the 5am report and before skiing starts where the skied snow is magically several inches deeper than the report.
I am still uncertain about the Thursday night wave. Current forecasts have 1-4” overnight Thursday for the Friday morning ski report with showers tapering off during the day, especially in the valleys, but if the wave travels just a bit further west and south, we could get double that. The strong winds over the past few days will finally begin to moderate during the day.
Regardless, dry air looks to invade the area by Saturday with temperatures staying cool before warming occurs late in the day. Sunday and Monday stay dry and very warm before another Pacific storm threatens the area starting Tuesday.
