Cool fronts to bring a showery workweek with mid-70 degree temperatures
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Some quick-hitting showers moved through Steamboat Springs earlier on this Sunday, though temperatures are still in the low-80s this mid-afternoon. Today will be our last day in the 80s this week as a couple of cool fronts conspire with monsoonal moisture to start likely rain showers tonight. Showers will continue intermittently through at least the workweek as a new storm settles over the Pacific Northwest.
A storm currently in the Pacific Northwest is on the move, pushed eastward by a developing storm rounding a ridge of high pressure in the Gulf of Alaska. The first storm will move into Idaho tonight and Montana by Monday, bringing snowflakes to the Tetons and higher elevations of Idaho and Montana.
The southwest winds ahead of the storm will conspire with monsoonal moisture drawn northward by the clockwise winds around high pressure over the Southeast. Storm energy will extend far enough south to bring good chances of storms, possibly strong, tonight, as a cool front passes through.
Some showers may persist into Monday morning, with a break during the day before they redevelop later in the afternoon, with some snowflakes possible in the 14′ers to our south. High temperatures will fall into the low-70s, just below our 75-degree average, and stay there for the rest of the workweek.
A trailing cool front late in the day Monday will reinvigorate the showers, with snow levels falling to around 13,000′ by the evening. Showers will taper off Monday night, with some showers possible Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the next storm is forecast to mix with some cool air from western Canada as it heads to the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, forming an eddy just off the California-Oregon coast by Wednesday.
Southwest winds ahead of the new storm will continue to carry monsoonal moisture rotating around the Southeast high overhead, leading to possible showers on Wednesday. A barely discernible wave rotating around the high may enhance showers around Wednesday evening, with a stronger wave possible for later Thursday.
The eddy may begin moving eastward near the end of the workweek, keeping the unsettled weather going into the weekend. However, weather forecast models have a notoriously difficult time forecasting the track and timing of eddies cut off from the jet stream, so that prognostication is very uncertain.
Let’s hope for beneficial rains during the last week of our summer, and I’ll have more details about whether the unsettled weather extends into next weekend in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
