Astronomical spring begins Tuesday in Steamboat Springs

Sunday will mark the last day of a stretch of breezy winds blowing from the east in Steamboat Springs, with sunny days and warming temperatures expected through midweek.

Mike Weissbluth wrote in his Sunday afternoon forecast on SnowAlarm.com that the local weather “may turn unsettled by the end of the work week ahead of a pattern-change that may bring storms back to our area by the end of next weekend.”

Weissbluth’s forecast noted Tuesday will mark the beginning of “astronomical spring as the sun is directly over the equator at 9:06 p.m.”

“While this date is usually closer to March 21, the extra day in February, thanks to a leap year, has pulled the vernal equinox forward a day earlier,” he added.

According to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information, the difference between the “regular” start of spring, or any season, and the start of an “astronomical spring, summer, fall or winter” results from the astronomical seasons being based on the position of ear in relation to the sun, whereas meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle.

The SnowAlarm.com report noted the increase in daylight will add nearly three minutes per-day after Tuesday, before more gradual increases in light begin June 20.

Later in the week, Weissbluth said “temperatures will stay around our rising average of 47 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday as clouds begin to invade our area ahead of an active weather pattern advertised to start in earnest by the end of the weekend.”

“So enjoy the quintessential spring weather to start this work week and be sure to check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon for more details on our next accumulating snowfall,” Weissbluth wrote on Sunday.

Mike Weissbluth is a local meteorologist who posts twice-weekly weather forecasts for the Steamboat Springs Area on SnowAlarm.com.

High winds to impact operations at Steamboat Resort

Adverse weather conditions will impact operations at Steamboat Resort today according to a notice issued by resort officials.

Around 11 a.m. winds are expected to increase and throughout the day, sustained winds of 45 mph and gusts up to 85 mph will impact operations and lift closures.

Mahogany Ridge and Morningside lifts will be on weather hold, which means Fish Creek Canyon and Morningside terrain will be closed and Mahogany Ridge terrain will be hiked to. Sunset Happy Hour will not be held at the gondola. Other restaurant operations may be impacted.

Please continue checking the app and website for real-time updates. steamboat.com/the-mountain/mountain-report

Snowfall predicted early this week in Steamboat Springs

Temperatures under blue skies Sunday afternoon hovered around the 40-degree Fahrenheit mark, but conditions are likely to change by Monday and Tuesday afternoon with the possibility of snow storms.

In his Sunday forecast on SnowAlarm.com, local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth said a quick moving storm is expected to bring a chance of light snow showers on Monday afternoon.

“Winds from the southwest will allow temperatures to rise a few degrees into the mid-forties and create breezy conditions by Monday afternoon with mountain-top winds gusting to as high as 40 mph. There may be some light snow showers on the hill overnight Monday with only light accumulations possible,” he predicted.

Weissbluth posts twice-weekly forecasts to SnowAlarm.com on Thursday and Sunday afternoons.

After the forecasted Monday precipitation, Weissbluth added “a colder stronger storm will bring good chances for significant snowfall later Tuesday through Wednesday with (an) unsettled weather forecast for the rest of the work week.”

Weissbluth said weather models show there will be likely clearing “and even some sun possible Tuesday morning” but a building storm currently over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska is expected to mix with cold air before crossing the Pacific Northwest coast on Monday.

“Similar to Monday, expect increasing breezes and clouds Tuesday afternoon as the storm approaches with showers breaking out later in the day,” wrote Weissbluth in his Sunday forecast.

“We could see 2-5″ of snow for the Wednesday morning mid-mountain ski report with another 2-5″ falling during the day. Temperatures in town will fall into the mid-thirties on Wednesday with several inches of snow expected between Tuesday and Wednesday nights,” he added.

The local meteorologist said the weather models appear to show “a break in the unsettled weather later Friday into Saturday, though a grazing storm may bring the unsettled weather back to our area around mid-weekend.”

Continued snowfall expected in Steamboat after high wind weekend

Continued snowfall is expected this week following a storm that brought high winds and more than a foot of accumulation to the Steamboat area over the weekend.

The weekend weather conditions caused Steamboat Resort to shut down the Steamboat Gondola on Saturday and forced the resort’s other lifts to run at slower speeds.

On Monday, the resort posted a warning to its website over continued lift closures and slowdowns because of sustained winds averaging around 25 mph.

Meteorologist Joel Gratz of OpenSnow.com said in his Monday morning report that “unorganized storm energy will cross Colorado from west to east, generating additional snow” Tuesday and Wednesday. However, he added that he held “low confidence in this part of the forecast.”

“I’ll estimate a broad range of 1-6 inches of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Gratz added. “The high temperatures will be in the 20s.”

Gratz noted that Sunday morning offered seven inches of new snow with an additional nine inches left by Monday morning at mid-mountain.

Local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth wrote in his Sunday weather report on SnowAlarm.com that he predicted early Tuesday may bring a halt to the snowfall that came Monday, but a storm expected late Wednesday is forecast to bring more accumulation through the end of Friday.

Weissbluth noted the Storm Peak Lab, operated by the University of Utah and located at the top of Mt. Werner at an elevation of 10,525 feet, recorded gusts as high as 75 mph just before 9 p.m. Saturday. The weather station also tallied 64 mph gusts early Sunday afternoon.

“Lingering moisture behind the departing storm will allow light snow showers to form in the afternoon and evening,” leaving 1-4 inches of snow that would be reported Wednesday morning.

In the Sunday forecast at SnowAlarm.com, Weissbluth predicted the winds would continue with “additional waves of energy and moisture” from the weather pattern expected through Monday afternoon.

Behind the weekend storm system, “a small storm in the form of an eddy currently located underneath a ridge of high pressure in the Gulf of Alaska” is expected to move east, Weissbluth noted.

“The eddy is forecast to move eastward and mix with some cold air on the western side of the current storm starting Monday night and continuing through the work week,” Weissbluth wrote Sunday.

“As this occurs, the eddy loses its identity and evolves into a trough of low pressure as it moves through southern California or northern Baja and eventually the Desert Southwest,” he added.

Weissbluth said cold air from the northwest would continue to mix with the eddy, keeping a broad and cool unstable air mass over the Steamboat area from Wednesday to Friday.

“There is some weather forecast model disagreement on whether the snow showers stop for a time on Wednesday, though snow showers look likely from later Wednesday through Friday and perhaps into Saturday morning,” he noted in his forecast.

Weissbluth posts local weather forecasts twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays on SnowAlarm.com, but the local meteorologist said the weather model disagreement could prompt an additional update this week.

“Unless the weather forecast models converge on a significant snowfall event that would be reported Thursday morning and demand a Wednesday update, enjoy the lionlike start to March and I’ll be back with my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon,” he wrote in his Sunday forecast.

Season snow totals: One Colorado resort nears 300 inches following a snowy February

February is in the books, and it was a snowy one.

Some parts of Colorado saw far more snow than others, though. 

This is where Colorado’s resorts’ snow totals stand so far, according to resorts’ websites and unofficial tallies from OpenSnow.com

  • Steamboat Springs, 294 inches
  • Winter Park, 257 inches
  • Wolf Creek, 238 inches
  • Powderhorn Mountain Resort, 220 inches
  • Vail Mountain, 215 inches
  • Copper Mountain, 215 inches
  • Aspen Highlands, 214 inches*
  • Crested Butte, 213 inches
  • Snowmass, 211 inches*
  • Breckenridge, 208 inches
  • Beaver Creek, 203 inches
  • Monarch Mountain, 202 inches
  • Silverton Mountain, 190 inches
  • Telluride, 185 inches
  • Aspen Mountain, 179 inches*
  • Arapahoe Basin, 177 inches*
  • Loveland Ski Area, 177 inches
  • Keystone Resort, 169 inches
  • Purgatory, 167 inches
  • Ski Cooper, 165 inches
  • Eldora, 150 inches
  • Buttermilk, 118 inches*
  • Sunlight Mountain Resort, 98.5 inches

Unofficial number from OpenSnow.com are marked with an asterisk.

Start of the week to bring strong, complex winter storm to Steamboat Springs

A strong and complex winter storm is expected to begin Monday with high winds and temperatures and a possible mix of snow and rain affecting the Steamboat area, according to local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth.

In his Sunday afternoon forecast posted to SnowAlarm.com, Weissbluth explained the Monday weather will be followed by a cold front arriving early Tuesday, accompanied by possible snow squalls and difficult driving conditions lasting throughout the day.

Snow accumulations are expected to leave 10-20 inches at the Steamboat Ski Resort by Wednesday morning — with half of that amount expected to fall in downtown Steamboat Springs — and temperatures will hover around zero degrees.

The complexities of the forecast stem from two storms: one building from “an eddy of low pressure currently located off the coast of central California” and the other coming from “an intensifying and cold storm” moving southeastward through the Gulf of Alaska, according to Weissbluth’s Sunday forecast.

“Both storms are attended by atmospheric rivers, with the eddy grabbing moisture from (the area) near Hawaii in the so-called Pineapple Express,” Weissbluth added.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, atmospheric rivers can vary greatly in size and strength but, on average, they carry “an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River.”

The Pineapple Express designation refers to a strong atmospheric river “because moisture builds up in the tropical Pacific around Hawaii and can wallop the U.S. and Canada’s west coasts with heavy rainfall and snow,” according to the national weather agency.

Weissbluth said Sunday that forecast models are struggling with how the two building storms will interact, “but right now at least a piece of the eddy is forecast to merge with the very cold Gulf of Alaska Storm” on Monday, bringing cloudy skies early in the day and winds as high as 30 mph, with gusts reaching up to 60 mph from the west and southwest.

Weissbluth said Tuesday will bring snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour into the afternoon, with decreasing winds excepted as the snow piles up overnight into Wednesday, when temperatures will be around 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

The local meteorologist said favorable northwest winds and lingering moisture could leave another 1-4 inches overnight into Thursday, with temperatures expected to be in the high 30s and low 40s by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Weissbluth said another “large and cold storm” is expected to form in the Gulf of Alaska by midweek, but the system would likely not bring precipitation to the area until late in the weekend or early the following week.

“Enjoy the weather whiplash to start the work week,” Weissbluth wrote in his Sunday forecast.

Mike Weissbluth is a local meteorologist who posts twice-weekly local weather forecasts and narratives to his website, SnowAlarm.com, on Sunday and Thursday afternoons. Go to SnowAlarm.com for more information and to sign up to receive the forecasts directly to your inbox.

Warming temperatures and solid precipitation levels likely this week

Local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth of SnowAlarm.com predicted Sunday afternoon that snow precipitation chances will return to the area by Tuesday and Wednesday.

In his Sunday afternoon forecast, Weissbluth predicted “mostly sunny” conditions for President’s Day, adding “precipitation chances return on Tuesday and Wednesday thanks to a warm and moist pattern that will bring some liquid precipitation to town and snows to the mountain.”

Looking ahead to the work week, Weissbluth said a storm over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska “is forecast to move to the east and force a complicated reorganization of the low-pressure system.

“Additionally, the southern end of the low-pressure system has tapped a band of subtropical moisture in another atmospheric river event that will first bring copious precipitation to most of California on Monday.”

The SnowAlarm.com forecast on Sunday noted that there “is still considerable weather forecast model disagreement on the proximity of the remnants of the atmospheric river to our area.”

“If the wetter forecast verifies, we can expect precipitation to start early Tuesday with snow on the hill and snow turning to a rain-snow mix or even all rain in town by Tuesday afternoon,” Weissbluth said. “Precipitation will likely revert to snow in town by Tuesday night and we could see 2-5″ of dense snow by the Wednesday morning mid-mountain ski report.”

Go to SnowAlarm.com to read the latest complete forecasts. Mike Weissbluth posts twice-weekly local forecasts to SnowAlarm.com on Sunday and Thursday afternoons.

Powder day expected for Steamboat on Saturday

Local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth’s said Steamboat area residents could expect 10-20 inches of fresh snow by Saturday morning, with another 2-5 inches possible between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.

In his Thursday forecast posted to SnowAlarm.com, Weissbluth said after a wave of energy and moisture moves through the area into early Friday, another round of snowfall should intensify later in the afternoon.

“This second set of accumulations starting Friday will be fluffier as cold air brought from the Yukon decreases the density, and I would expect 5-10 (inches) of snow to be reported on the Saturday morning mid mountain ski report, with some of that falling during the previous day,” wrote Weissbluth on SnowAlarm.com.

The local meteorologist said temperatures are expected to be between 5-17 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday morning; but the sun should reappear by the afternoon “for a classic picture-perfect powder day before clouds increase by Saturday night as another weak wave of energy and moisture” moves into the area.

“Current forecasts have light snow showers starting by Sunday afternoon and continuing overnight with 2-5″ possible on the Monday morning report,” he added.

Mike Weissbluth posts twice-weekly local weather forecasts on Sunday and Thursday afternoons. Go to SnowAlarm.com for complete weather reports and other information.

Could a brewing Alaska storm send another snow event to Steamboat?

Another three inches of new snow fell at the Steamboat ski resort by Sunday morning, the precipitation coming at the tail-end of a storm that started late Wednesday and brought nearly 20 inches of snow to the resort’s mid-mountain weather station.

Local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth predicted on SnowAlarm.com Sunday the possibility of some snow showers through midweek with a mix of sun and clouds likely through Wednesday.

Looking ahead, Weissbluth noted a storm is expected to develop south of the Aluetian Islands in Alaska through the week as winds from the northwest bring “weak waves of energy and moisture” locally between Monday and Wednesday.

“Partly sunny skies and cool temperatures will be over our area through Monday, with the high temperature only reaching the mid-twenties in town, which is over five degrees below our average of 33 (degrees Fahrenheit,)” he wrote in his latest forecast.

“If skies can clear before sunrise Monday, low temperatures will fall to around five degrees below our average of 7 (degrees Fahrenheit), with likely sub-zero temperatures in the favored low-lying areas of the Yampa Valley,” he added.

Referencing the brewing Alaska storm, the local meteorologist noted in his Sunday report of “major uncertainty” for Thursday’s forecast given disagreement among various weather models; but he left the door open for the possibility of another round of snow later in the week.

“The American (Global Forecast System) has a quicker moving storm staying more to our north starting Thursday and ending Friday while the European (Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) has a far more substantial and further south event not ending until Saturday,” Weissbluth said.

Read Mike Weissbluth’s full, twice-weekly weather reports posted to SnowAlarm.com every Thursday and Sunday afternoons.

Snow expected as Steamboat celebrates Winter Carnival

Snowfall Wednesday night dropped 10 fresh inches at the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort with an additional three inches falling during the day Thursday.

According to local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth’s Thursday forecast posted to SnowAlarm.com, snow showers are expected to bring an additional 3-6 inches by Friday morning, with additional snow showers hanging around through Saturday.

“I would expect 2-5 inches for the Saturday morning report, some of which should fall during the day Friday, and 1-4 inches for the Sunday morning report, most of which should fall during the day Saturday,” Weissbluth wrote.

Weissbluth added that low temperatures will be on a downtrend from the low teens Thursday night, to the high single-digits on Saturday, to the low single-digits on Sunday.

“Even colder temperatures around zero or below zero are forecast for Monday morning, which is around 5 to 10 degrees below our average of 7 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Read Weissbluth’s local forecasts on SnowAlarm.com every Thursday and Sunday afternoons.