Hot start to the weekend with some shower chances starting Saturday
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Temperatures are in the upper 80s with mostly sunny skies this Thursday mid-afternoon in Steamboat Springs. While today and Saturday will be around 90 degrees, Friday will be even hotter in the low 90s, with some returning monsoonal moisture starting Saturday, bringing a chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. High temperatures will fall into the mid-80s on Sunday and the following workweek, with modest thunderstorm chances continuing.
An eddy of low pressure off the coast of Northern California is on the move, pushed along by an upstream storm traveling through the Gulf of Alaska. The eddy will be deflected northeastward by the stout ridge of high pressure over the West that is responsible for our current hot and dry weather. Tomorrow will be another day in the low 90s, adding to the 24 days at or above 90 degrees we’ve had this summer through last Tuesday, short, so far, of the record 29 days in July and August of 2002.
As the eddy crosses the Pacific Northwest this weekend, the ridge is nudged eastward, allowing the southwesterly winds ahead of the eddy and the southerly winds behind the ridge to carry a modicum of monsoonal moisture towards our area beginning Saturday. A wave of energy traveling around the ridge is forecast to cross our area around Saturday evening, bringing a good chance of thunderstorms from the afternoon through the evening. As is usual, brief, locally heavy rain, strong gusty winds, and small hail are possible.
Temperatures will cool on Sunday into the mid-80s, still around 5 degrees above our 80-degree average, as the eddy moves across the Northern Rockies, with decreased, but still present, chances of late-day storms.
The ridge starts to ooze back westward behind the Northern Rockies storm early in the workweek, but will make limited progress ahead of the next Gulf of Alaska storm forecast to cross the Pacific Northwest coast midweek. Look for continued high temperatures in the mid-80s and limited late-day storm chances heading through the next workweek.
So enjoy another hot summer weekend, hope for beneficial rain from the possible storms starting Saturday, and I’ll have more details on the storm chances next week in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
