Wintry cold front to start the workweek
Sunday, May 17, 2026
The skies over Steamboat Springs have turned threatening on this Sunday mid-afternoon as a wintry storm affects our area through Monday. After ejecting energy brought high-elevation snowfall and town rainfall last night, thunderstorm chances for the rest of today and tonight will be followed by a cold front on Monday, bringing another round of significant precipitation to our area, including snowflakes in town.
A wintry storm over Nevada is forecast to move across Utah tonight and our area on Monday. An ejecting wave of energy from the storm last night brought 4” of snowfall to the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort, 3” to mid-mountain, and 0.4” of rain to town in the 3 hours between 2 am and 5 am.
The storm is strong, already producing a radar-indicated tornado warning around the Meeker area early this afternoon, and some pellets of soft hail from a thunderstorm near the base of the ski area. Continued thunderstorm chances with locally heavy precipitation, small hail, and strong gusty winds ahead of the main storm are likely for the rest of today and tonight, before it passes almost directly overhead around noon on Monday, bringing a strong mid-morning cold front and moderate-to-heavy precipitation rates.
In fact, while writing this weather narrative, that cell from Meeker just passed overhead with the above hazards, including half-inch soft hail and a temperature drop from 55 degrees at 3 pm to 42 degrees in 20 minutes!
We’ll see rain and snowflakes in town on Monday, with temperatures in the forties, well below our average of 66 degrees, and around another 6” of snowfall on the hill by Monday evening as precipitation tapers off during the afternoon.
The storm will shear apart as it passes over the Rocky Mountains, leaving some energy to our southwest that will form a broad trough of low pressure over the West through midweek as additional Pacific energy moves over the top of a Gulf of Alaska ridge and down its eastern side.
Tuesday will be a much drier, but still-cool day with high temperatures only reaching the low-fifties, with a chance of afternoon showers as energy moves through the trough to our southwest. Afternoon storm chances will persist on a warmer Wednesday, with high temperatures closer to 60 degrees, as a stronger wave of Pacific energy dislodges the trough to our southwest.
This stronger wave moves over our area later Thursday, bringing increasing shower chances, with trailing energy following on Friday for a similar forecast. I am not sure the temperature guidance has factored in these end-of-week waves, but it is predicting mid-60s for Thursday and upper-sixties on Friday.
My next weather narrative may not be in its usual Thursday afternoon time slot, as I’ll be traveling through the long Memorial Day weekend. So if not, then please check back on Friday, or sign up to have this twice-weekly weather narrative delivered to your inbox for free.
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