Another gorgeous weekend ahead
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Temperatures are in the low-fifties with partly cloudy skies in Steamboat Springs late this Thursday afternoon. A departing storm will give way to another gorgeous spring weekend to start May with temperatures approaching seventy degrees. Enjoy the pleasant weather as, similar to last weekend, unsettled weather will return as soon as Sunday night.
Winter moved back into the area last Sunday night, bringing two inches of snow in town, five inches at mid-mountain and six inches up top. While that was more snow than predicted in last Sunday’s weather narrative, the cold front late Wednesday was less productive for our area as it settled over the central mountains, bringing only a half-inch at mid-mountain and two inches up top, but leaving today’s temperatures below our average of sixty degrees.
That storm split, with the piece left behind ending up over southern California, and too far south to affect our weather this weekend. So a building ridge of high pressure ahead of another strong storm extending south from the Gulf of Alaska will bring mostly sunny skies for most of the weekend, with high temperatures rising into the low-sixties on Friday, upper-sixties on Saturday, and to around seventy degrees on Sunday.
The incoming storm is forecast to split as it crosses the West Coast late Saturday, forming an eddy at the southern end that will move to Arizona and Utah on Monday. Clouds will invade our area ahead of the storm by Sunday afternoon, with some rain showers possible by the end of the day, but more likely holding off until Sunday night.
There is a lot of uncertainty for next week regarding not only the track of the incoming eddy and its residence time in the West, but also the amount of cold air that wraps into the back of the storm and the amount of moisture ingested into the front of the storm.
Most of the uncertainty in moisture is due to the leftover eddy now in California that is forecast to move along the Mexican border this weekend. Interestingly, by the beginning of the workweek, counter-clockwise winds around the eddy may draw moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northwestward and into the new storm.
So enjoy what promises to be stellar weather for most of the first weekend in May, and check back for more details on what could be a wet start to the upcoming workweek.
