Showers to last through Saturday and be followed by a cool Sunday
Thursday, September 17, 2026
After a rainy start to this Thursday in Steamboat Springs, following a rainy Wednesday morning, some sun is peeking out late this afternoon. The monsoonal moisture now overhead will stick around through Saturday night, bringing another couple of showery days before an approaching but grazing storm brings drier, cooler air on Sunday.
Clockwise winds rotating around high pressure over the Southeast have conspired with the southwesterly winds ahead of an eddy of low pressure over northern California and Oregon, bringing deep monsoonal moisture to our area. Rainfall over 2 days ranges from three-quarters of an inch to almost an inch around town, with more, possibly heavy rainfall expected through Saturday night as the eddy moves across the Great Basin on Friday and Saturday, grazing our area with a cool front on Sunday.
Showers on Friday will probably hold off until the afternoon, but will likely continue overnight and into Saturday morning as energy ahead of the eddy forces the monsoon air mass upward.
By Saturday afternoon, monsoonal moisture will decrease as it is swept northward ahead of the advancing eddy in Idaho, but increasing storm energy will bring continued rainfall chances, still possibly heavy at times, lasting into the night.
The eddy is forecast to move into Wyoming on Sunday, bringing a cool front Sunday and likely keeping the high temperature in the 60s, below our 77-degree average. We may see some sun by the afternoon as drier air encroaches from the west behind the front, with current forecasts calling for a mostly sunny Monday with high temperatures in the comfortable lower 70s.
The break in the unsettled weather may be short-lived as a weak Pacific disturbance crosses the southern California coast on Monday and travels across the Great Basin on Tuesday, possibly bringing more weather to our area by later Tuesday.
So relish this stretch of rainy weather, as it has been relatively uncommon, and I’ll have more information on the incoming storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Sunday afternoon.
