Arctic front to bring more snow tonight and cold temperatures to start the weekend
Thursday, January 8, 2026
After nine inches of snow fell from the first part of a storm at mid-mountain as of this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs, skies are overcast with a temperature of twenty-eight degrees in town and fourteen degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. An arctic front associated with the second part of the storm moves through our area tonight, bringing colder temperatures for Friday and some snow tonight. After a cold start to Saturday, temperatures start to warm, reaching the mid-thirties on a mostly sunny Sunday.
A broad and cold trough of low pressure extends from Canada to the Mexican border, spanning the Canadian Rockies and Intermountain West, as well as the Great Plains. The first part of the storm was quite productive, with snowfall starting around 3 am and accumulating three inches by the Thursday morning ski report at 5 am, highlighted by an inch of snow between 3:40 am and 4:00 am. An additional six inches fell by 10 am, highlighted by two inches between 6:40 am and 7:20 am.
The second part of the storm will bring an arctic front through the area this evening as the main forcing stays to our west and then south. We could see an additional 1-4” of fluffy snowfall overnight, with snow showers continuing through about noon on Friday before some afternoon sun. High temperatures on Friday will only be in the teens in town, below the twenty-nine-degree average, and single digits up top.
Clouds on Friday night will prevent temperatures from plummeting as they insulate the surface like a blanket, but they may still reach below zero in town, below the four-degree average, as well as on the hill.
Temperatures will grudgingly warm to several degrees below average in town on Saturday, helped by some afternoon sun, as a ridge of high pressure begins to move over the West behind the departing storm. We could see mid-thirties on a mostly sunny Sunday, though the fresh snow cover and low sun angle may mean we warm more slowly than predicted.
The nice weather is forecast to continue into the next workweek, with a grazing storm forecast around midweek and another at the end of the workweek. Enjoy the wintry weather for the weekend, and I’ll have more details on the approaching storms in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
Workweek to start with a warm storm and end with a cold storm
Sunday, January 4, 2026
A cloudy morning in Steamboat Springs this Sunday has given way to some noontime sun, with thirty-eight-degree temperatures in town and twenty-seven-degree temperatures at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. Similar to the warm storm that ended last Friday, which left seven-and-a-half inches of snowfall at mid-mountain, another warm storm is forecast to begin snowfall on Monday and last into Tuesday. After a short break, a colder storm is expected to start later Wednesday and linger into Friday.
A blanket of fog covered the Yampa Valley Saturday morning after about six-tenths of an inch of liquid fell during the day Thursday and Thursday night. Even though dry air overspread the valley by Saturday morning, fog formed and persisted early in the day, as shown by the time-lapse from the Steamboat Thunderhead cam between 6:40 am and 10:40 am.
A trough of low pressure off the West Coast is now directing moisture over a ridge of high pressure over the Rockies, leading to our mix of sun and clouds. A wave of energy rounding the base of the trough will move overhead on Monday, starting precipitation as early as Monday morning. The storm will be warm, a few degrees cooler than the last storm, but that may be enough to limit the raindrops in town to perhaps a few hours around noon.
Gusty westerly winds reaching as high as 50 mph on Monday afternoon will accompany the snowfall, with snowfall briefly picking up around sunset as a cool front associated with the wave moves through. Mountain-top temperatures will slowly fall into the teens by Tuesday morning, though the best moisture may be past when the coldest temperatures arrive. We could see 3-6” at mid-mountain by the Tuesday morning report, with weather forecast models disagreeing on the amount of moisture behind the cool front and whether snow showers continue into Tuesday morning, with another inch or two of fluffier snowfall possible.
Meanwhile, incoming northern Pacific energy will force the West Coast trough to shear, with the southern end forming an eddy and perhaps affecting our next storm, and the northern end moving across the northern Rockies. The northern wave may drag another weak but dry cool front through our area on Tuesday afternoon, for another afternoon of gusty winds.
More incoming Pacific energy will carry a wave of energy and moisture, now over northern Japan, across the Aleutian Islands on Monday and the Gulf of Alaska on Tuesday. Cold arctic air from the north will be ingested into and strengthen the wave, bringing a storm across the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday.
Weather forecast models have struggled with the speed and strength of this wave and its eventual interaction with the remnants of the West Coast eddy. Right now, flurries could start Wednesday afternoon or evening, with stronger showers following when a leading cool front grazes our area on Thursday morning, and again when the much stronger arctic front follows on Thursday night.
While colder air by Friday morning is the more certain outcome, moisture availability is uncertain as it will depend upon the interaction between the cold storm from the northwest and the moist eddy to the south. It is also unclear whether the storm slows or even stalls, perhaps prolonging snowfall into Friday morning. We could see as much as 6-12”, or less than half that, depending upon the storm’s evolution.
Let’s hope these two storms can produce since warm and dry weather is forecast for the weekend, lasting into and perhaps through the following workweek. I’ll have more details on the colder storm to end this workweek in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
Nice start to the weekend after a warm Friday storm
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Cloudy skies are over Steamboat Springs this noon on New Year’s Day, with temperatures around thirty degrees in town and twenty-seven degrees at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort. An approaching warm storm will bring significant snowfall above 8,000′ tonight and Friday ahead of nice weather to start the first weekend of 2026. Another warm storm is forecast to begin on Monday.
The remnants of a weakening eddy now over central California, part of which was left behind from the storm last weekend, has ingested tropical and subtropical moisture while it was vacationing off the West Coast earlier this week. The eddy is forecast to move through the ridge of high pressure over the Rockies that brought the gorgeous weather to the Yampa Valley this past week.
Snow showers will start this afternoon at the higher elevations, but snow levels around 7,500′ mean showers will be either liquid or a wintry mix at the lower elevations when precipitation eventually starts later this afternoon.
The eddy remnants are forecast to move through Nevada and Utah tonight, and Colorado on Friday. Very little cold air is associated with the storm, with temperatures dropping only a few degrees around noon on Friday, as a weak cool front passes with the storm.
But a lot of moisture, and first westerly and then northwesterly winds impinging on and lifted by the Park Range should create significant orographic, or terrain-lifted, snowfall above 8,000′. We could see 3-6” of snow at mid-mountain for the Friday morning report, with another 3-6” during the day. An additional 1-4” could fall through Friday evening in favorable, but drying, northwest flow behind the storm.
Meanwhile, a narrow trough of low pressure, extending southward from the Gulf of Alaska, will evolve in a complicated fashion through the weekend as waves of energy move eastward across the Pacific and southward from Alaska.
A transient ridge of high pressure forming over the West behind the departing storm and ahead of the eastern Pacific trough will bring warming temperatures and mostly sunny skies on Saturday. Weather forecast models agree that energy and moisture slingshot around the base of the trough will bring precipitation chances back to our area to start the workweek; however, it is uncertain whether mostly sunny skies will persist into Sunday for part or all of the day.
Enjoy what should be the first powder day of 2026 on Friday and a nice start to the weekend, and I’ll have more details on the Monday storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
