Monsoonal surge brings greatest chance of showers on Friday
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Atmospheric moisture has substantially increased in the last 24 hours as the clockwise circulation around a ridge over the Rocky Mountains draws moist air northwards into our area. This increase in moisture combined with high afternoon temperatures will lead to an increasing chance of showers this afternoon and extending through the end of the workweek. Additionally, a wave moving along the Canadian border on Friday will increase the likelihood and strength of showers, making that day the wettest day of this forecast period with showers possibly developing as early as noon.
Though this monsoonal moisture is suppressed to our south with the passing of the Canadian wave for the weekend, there should be enough existing moisture for a small chance of slow-moving afternoon showers on Saturday with even less of a chance for Sunday.
Next Monday will be similar to the preceding Sunday before that Canadian wave intensifies and moves into the upper midwest early in the workweek. This will again increase the likelihood and strength of showers for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. After that, models forecast westerly flow aloft which will cut off the monsoonal moisture plume and allow for drier conditions heading into the following weekend.
Independence Day funnel clouds in Steamboat Springs
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Fireworks in Steamboat Springs started ahead of schedule on late Friday afternoon as funnel clouds appeared over the the south part of town around 5:30 pm MDT. These photos were taken on Village Dr, first near Meadow Lane and then about 1/4 mile north near Walton Creek Rd. As the radar loop from Grand Junction in the lower right shows, the storm rapidly gained strength soon after 5:09 pm MDT and was quite strong between 5:28 and 5:48. During this time, rotation was evident in several areas of the cloud base, and it appeared that 2 or 3 shallow funnels briefly formed around this time. Along with favorable wind shear that helped cause the rotation, atmospheric instability was enhanced as the storm formed along a dry-line that was present at the boundary of the moist monsoonal air to our south and some drier air to our north and west that appeared in the afternoon.
Chance of showers highest for July 4th holiday
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Moisture drawn from our south is currently increasing over our area, leading to a small chance of showers this afternoon. The best chance, however, will occur during the July 4th holiday as the areal extent and chance for wetting rains will be the highest, especially in the afternoon and evening.
Dry air will interrupt this very brief monsoonal surge of moisture for the rest of the holiday weekend, though remnant moisture trapped under the dry air may lead to a very slight chance of storms for Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Warm and dry days should follow the weekend until midweek or soon after when another slug of monsoonal moisture is forecast to make a brief appearance over our area, increasing the chance of wetting rains. A shortwave moving well north of us will then suppress the ridge to our south and return dry weather to our area for at least part of the following weekend. However, the southwest ridge builds behind this shortwave late in the weekend or early the following week leading to a more sustained monsoonal surge and increased chances of precipitation for our area.
Uphill access restored to Zig Zag between Thunderhead and Creekside
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
The Steamboat ski area recently completed the lower section of the mountain biking downhill trail Tenderfoot, and as promised 2 long years ago, restored uphill access on the old Zig Zag trail between the base of the Thunderhead lift and the top of Creekside. This is great news for uphill riders like myself as we will no longer be subjected to the mind-numbingly boring ride up Why Not road to gain access to the excellent Creekside singletrack.
Personally, this has restored my standard lunchtime ride which I call the Creekside-8, which traces out a figure eight by following Zig Zag from the gondola to the top of Creekside, then down Creekside and back up Burgess Creek Road to Lower Valley View and finally the top of Christy Peak, then down Lower Rustler’s Ridge to the base of the gondola. It’s about 1800 vertical feet with two excellent descents separated by a 15 or 20 minute climb up Lower Valley View.
The trails are riding great after the rain we received last Friday, and the trail crews are keeping the singletrack and widetrack in excellent condition.
Cold front brings showers for Friday and then pleasant weather for the weekend
Thursday, June 26, 2014
An uncharacteristically strong storm for mid-summer is currently located in Nevada and will sweep a cold front through our area late tonight and early Friday. Temperatures will be knocked below average for tomorrow and showers will likely occur during most of the day, becoming stronger by the afternoon and early evening as any surface heating combines with cooling aloft to destabilize the atmosphere.
Showers may continue Friday night into early Saturday morning before drier air moves into the area and leads to very pleasant weekend weather with seasonably cool temperatures. Another storm will pass well to our north by Monday morning keeping these cool temperatures around for the beginning of the workweek. A ridge is then forecast to build over our area by midweek bringing hot temperatures by the July 4th holiday.
There is some model consensus with respect to monsoonal moisture from the south sneaking under the ridge by next weekend, which not coincidentally is climatologically expected around the beginning of July. If this occurs, the moisture will bring an end to the mostly dry week as showers will become stronger and more likely during the holiday weekend.
