Mild and unsettled weather to continue through the work week
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Temperatures are right around freezing this Sunday mid afternoon with occasional snow flurries. The clouds and mild temperatures will be with us through the work week thanks to a series of relatively warm and disorganized Pacific weather systems. While we may see flurries through this period, we should see some meager accumulations for the Monday, possibly Thursday, and Friday morning ski reports.
A mild Pacific jet stream extending from the Dateline across the West has displaced the arctic air mass that was over our area last week. Pieces of a storm currently over the Aleutian Islands will combine with the Pacific jet stream to bring several disorganized waves of energy and moisture over the West through the work week. While we may see flurries throughout the entire period, the best chance for some accumulating snowfall on the mid mountain ski report at the Steamboat Ski Resort will be Monday, possibly Thursday, and Friday mornings.
The first wave moving overhead now and a second one currently moving through southern Utah should keep very light snows over the mountain through Monday morning, leaving 1-4” for the morning mid mountain ski report.
Though there may be an occasional flurry, mostly dry weather under cloudy skies is likely for Tuesday and Wednesday. A third wave looks to take a more southern route through the Desert Southwest on Wednesday, with some trailing energy later Wednesday bringing weak winds from our favorable northwest direction, which may be enough to leave an inch or two for the Thursday morning report.
A fourth wave is then forecast to move more directly through our area between Thursday and Friday afternoons and will likely produce the best accumulations of the week, perhaps in the 3-6” range. But that is currently a tenuous forecast, and I hope to have more certainty by my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
And for those looking for a prolonged period of sunny weather, a ridge of high pressure is currently advertised to build over the West and bring those mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures starting around next weekend and continuing through the end of the month.
