Cold temperatures with a bit of snow to start the workweek
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Temperatures in the upper fifties and mostly cloudy skies are over Steamboat Springs early this Sunday afternoon, though some blue skies are visible to the west. An approaching storm from the Pacific Northwest will bring breezy winds and cold air starting tonight, along with a modicum of moisture on Monday, and even colder air on a dry Tuesday. The rest of the workweek will feature moderately warmer temperatures and dry weather.
Colorado is officially open for skiing, as Keystone became the first North American ski area to open Saturday afternoon, followed by Arapahoe Basin this morning. On cue, an approaching storm system from the Pacific Northwest will bring several cold fronts through our area starting tonight, accompanied by breezy winds and limited moisture as the leading edge of the storm is deflected to our northeast by a ridge of high pressure extending northward from the Great Lakes.
While snowflakes may start tonight at higher elevations, accumulations of up to several inches are possible by Monday evening above 9,000′ as another surge of cold air moves through our area during the afternoon. And those snowflakes may also appear in town on Monday as high temperatures only reach the mid-forties, below our average of fifty-three degrees, though any accumulations at low elevations are unlikely.
Another surge of cold air arrives Monday night, though this last one will bring much drier air overhead. Low temperatures should fall to the teens on Tuesday morning, perhaps as cold as ten degrees below our average of twenty-two degrees, likely allowing for the start of snowmaking operations near the base of the Steamboat Ski Area. Tuesday should be a mostly sunny but cold day, with high temperatures struggling to break out of the thirties.
Clear skies and light winds on Tuesday night mean another cold start to Wednesday with low temperatures in the low teens, and another productive night of snowmaking, perhaps the last for a while. A ridge of high pressure is then forecast to build overhead starting on Wednesday as the remaining part of the storm moves into the Great Plains, undercutting the ridge of high pressure that was over the Great Lakes.
Expect another day of mostly sunny skies on Wednesday, with high temperatures rebounding to approach fifty degrees. A storm developing in the Gulf of Alaska on Tuesday is forecast to move over the top of the ridge of high pressure on Thursday, grazing our area with some clouds, but still allowing high temperatures to rise into the low-fifties.
Another storm forecast to develop in the Gulf of Alaska near the end of the workweek may strengthen the jet stream moving across the northern Rockies by the weekend. Though the jet is forecast to remain north of our area, allowing the dry weather to continue, there may be enough moisture moving inland for at least some of next weekend to be cloudy.
Enjoy the change in weather to start the workweek, and I’ll have more details about what to expect for Friday’s annual Halloween Stroll and the weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Storms tonight and later Sunday to bookend a nice weekend
Thursday, October 23, 2025
After high temperatures in the upper-fifties with a mix of sun and clouds this Thursday morning in Steamboat Springs, clouds have invaded by mid-afternoon in advance of a storm near the Four Corners. Expect some precipitation later today and tonight, with the snowline around pass level, before nice weather returns starting Friday and lasting through most of the weekend. A cold front is forecast to graze our area later Sunday, likely bringing a bit of snow to town by Monday morning.
An eddy of low pressure left behind by the storm one week ago near Baja has been pushed to the Four Corners by an approaching Pacific Northwest storm. While the eddy will graze our area as it moves across southern Colorado and northern New Mexico through Friday, it will be close enough to begin precipitation by later this afternoon or early this evening, with snowfall accumulations of up to several inches starting around 9,000′ possible.
Precipitation should end by Friday morning, with mostly sunny skies by the afternoon, accompanied by high temperatures several degrees above our average of fifty-five degrees. Another nice day is forecast on Saturday, with high temperatures a bit warmer than Friday and near sixty degrees.
Meanwhile, a storm now approaching the Pacific Northwest will make its way to Idaho by Saturday, bringing increasing clouds to our area by Sunday and lowering high temperatures to around average. The storm has trended northward due to a building ridge of high pressure over the Great Lakes, with only a grazing cold front now forecast for later Sunday afternoon or evening.
While precipitation amounts are uncertain, colder temperatures are not; expect high temperatures to start the week in the forties. It will eventually be cold enough for snowflakes in town by Monday morning, possibly with some light accumulations on grassy surfaces.
A reinforcing wave of cold air will keep high temperatures mired in the forties on Monday, with precipitation ending first at lower elevations. Another day of cold temperatures on a dry Tuesday is forecast to be followed by sunny skies and warming temperatures starting midweek.
So, enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend for as long as it lasts, and I’ll have more details about the approaching storm to start the workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Southern storm to graze our area Thursday
Monday, October 20, 2025
A bright, breezy and cool fall day is over Steamboat Springs after last night’s cold front, with temperatures in the mid-forties as of this Monday mid-afternoon. Warming temperatures and mostly sunny skies are forecast through Wednesday before a storm moving across the Desert southwest grazes our area with possible showers on Thursday. Nice weather returns to start the weekend ahead of a strong winterlike storm to end the weekend.
The grazing cold front early this morning dropped around a tenth of an inch of rain, lowering the high temperatures from the upper-sixties on a beautiful Sunday, about ten degrees above our average of fifty-seven degrees, to ten degrees below average today. Expect the coldest night of the season so far tonight, as light overnight winds and clear skies allow low temperatures to drop to around twenty degrees, around five degrees below our average of twenty-five degrees, and colder in the low-lying drainages.
The storm responsible for the cold front is forecast to quickly move from the Dakotas to the Great Lakes by late Tuesday before stalling and spinning over the Northeast through the rest of the workweek. A flat ridge of high pressure will move overhead through midweek behind the storm, allowing for mostly sunny skies and high temperatures warming into the mid-fifties on Tuesday and around sixty degrees on Wednesday, which should be the warmest day of the week.
Meanwhile, an eddy of low pressure off the coast of Baja, left behind by last week’s storm, is forecast to be nudged across the Desert Southwest by a couple of North Pacific storm moving across the Gulf of Alaska. Weather forecast models have struggled with the speed and location of the eddy, typical of eddies cut off from the main jet stream, but have settled on the eddy moving across the Four Corners by Thursday evening and the Oklahoma Panhandle by Friday night.
Clouds will increase by Wednesday night with some light showers possible on Thursday as the center of the storm traverses southern Colordao. High temperatures will only fall several degrees into the upper-fifties as, unsurprisingly, there is not much cold air associated with the Baja storm.
Nice weather returns for Friday and Saturday ahead of another North Pacific storm that is forecast to move across the Gulf of Alaska on Thursday and cross the Pacific Northwest coast on Friday. This will be the coldest storm of the season so far, with the storm crossing the Great Basin on Saturday and approaching our area by sometime Sunday.
Enjoy the nice fall weather through midweek, and I’ll have more details on the timing and strength of the approaching cold front, including anticipated snow amounts which are likely at all elevations, in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Cool start to a nice weekend
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Temperatures have only touched fifty degrees by this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs, with some clouds left over from last night’s cold front still lurking to our north. The cool temperatures and mix of sun and clouds will stick around on Friday and be reinforced on Saturday morning by a grazing, dry cold front. Mostly sunny skies and warmer temperatures close out the weekend for Sunday ahead of another grazing cold front to start the week.
After around a quarter-inch of rain fell in Steamboat Springs last night as a cold front passed through, a quintessential fall day has settled over the area, with breezy winds and high temperatures only around fifty degrees, below our average of fifty-nine degrees.
Cool, northwest flow will continue on Friday with similar temperatures and sky cover behind the storm and ahead of another approaching storm. However, weather forecast models have trended weaker and further north, leading to a grazing cold front on Saturday that will keep the cool temperatures around for another day. There may be some clouds to start the day, but mostly sunny skies are forecast by the afternoon.
A transient ridge of high pressure then moves over the West behind Saturday’s grazing cold front and ahead of a storm now over the Bering Sea, forecast to develop over the Gulf of Alaska by Sunday. Mostly sunny skies with high temperatures in the low sixties will make for a gorgeous fall Sunday. Like the grazing cool front on Saturday, weather forecast models have trended weaker and further north with the Gulf of Alaska storm, which is now predicted to bring another likely dry grazing cold front through our area on Monday.
An eddy of low pressure left behind from last night’s storm is eventually forecast to form off the coast of Baja, before being dragged across the Desert Southwest by midweek. The latest forecast indicates that the eddy will remain south of our area, but I’ll have more details on how this may or may not affect us in my next weather narrative on Monday afternoon, a day later than usual.
More precipitation chances for the workweek
Sunday, October 12, 2025
After nine-tenths of an inch of rainfall in Steamboat Springs over the last three days, punctuated by the town’s first snowfall of the season of three-quarters of an inch this Sunday morning, skies are clearing early this afternoon. Temperatures will struggle to reach fifty degrees today, but should approach sixty degrees on Columbus Day, despite good rain chances from the approaching remnants of another tropical storm that will continue into Tuesday. And, similar to this weekend’s storm, a cold front is forecast to follow around Wednesday night, continuing the unsettled weather for Thursday.
Drier air behind a cold front last night has replaced moisture from the remnants of former Hurricane Priscilla, which brought three-quarters of an inch of rain to town yesterday. While the cold front was well-advertised, its strength was underestimated until yesterday afternoon, as cold air moving southward from western Canada was split between the storm moving across the Great Basin and a new storm forming near Vancouver.
While I was not surprised to see snow in town this morning based upon yesterday’s guidance, I was surprised that the snowfall exhibited very little elevation dependence, as both the upper mountain and mid mountain received two inches, compared to the three-quarters of an inch in town. In hindsight, strong cold fronts that are not followed by orographic, or terrain-driven precipitation, often can bring similar snowfall to all elevations.
The storm over Vancouver is forecast to strengthen as it moves southward along the West Coast, forming an eddy over San Francisco by Monday night. Similar to this past weekend, moisture from the remnants of another tropical system near Baja, former Tropical Storm Raymond, will be drawn northward and over our area by the southwest winds ahead of the West Coast storm and a rebuilding ridge of high pressure over Texas extending northeastward into the Midwest.
High temperatures on Columbus Day will rise toward sixty degrees, near our average of sixty-one degrees, after a cold night with low temperatures falling below our average of twenty-seven degrees due to mostly clear skies and light winds. Several rounds of showers are forecast to start on Monday, possibly as early as noon, but more likely in the early afternoon, and continue into Tuesday morning.
Skies should turn mostly sunny by Tuesday afternoon, allowing temperatures to rise into the mid-sixties, with the mostly clear skies continuing through Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, a storm forecast to move across the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska will force the West Coast storm eastward, crossing the Great Basin Tuesday night and Wednesday, and bringing a cold front through our area Wednesday night.
After another day of mid-sixty-degree temperatures on Wednesday, low-elevation rain showers and high-elevation snow showers should begin by Wednesday afternoon or evening and continue into Thursday, persisting the longest at higher elevations. High temperatures will fall behind the cold front, struggling to reach fifty degrees on Thursday, and possibly longer, as cool northwest flow persists for a couple of days.
While Friday will likely be cool and dry, there is weather forecast uncertainty for Saturday, as the ECMWF drops part of the Gulf of Alaska storm southward toward our area on Saturday, and the American GFS moves that part of the storm through Montana. Enjoy the very fall-like coming workweek, and I’ll have more details on the evolving weekend forecast in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
