Workweek to start with low-elevation rain and high-elevation snow
Sunday, November 1, 2026
Rain showers are over Steamboat Springs this Sunday afternoon, with temperatures around 50 degrees. Rain will continue overnight ahead of a cold front early Monday morning, turning the high-elevation rain into accumulating snowfall. While the rain will taper off in town after noon, snowfall will continue at the high elevations through the afternoon, with some snowflakes possible in town by the end of the day. Clearing later on Tuesday may be followed by a small, quick-moving storm midweek ahead of a nice couple of days to end the workweek.
An atmospheric river originating near Hawaii, the so-called Pineapple Express, has been carried over our area by southwest winds ahead of a strong trough of low pressure that crossed the West Coast early this morning. The saturated atmosphere has generated flood watches in southern Colorado, concurrent with high-elevation winter storm warnings. In fact, Wolf Creek opened for its first day of the season on Saturday before closing today as a precaution due to flooding in the county, staying closed until the mandatory evacuation order in Archuleta County is lifted.
Moisture took longer to arrive over our area, with rain showers beginning this afternoon at all elevations. The trough will move through the Great Basin tonight, continuing the precipitation overnight ahead of a strong cold front by daybreak. Snow levels drop to 8,000′ by Monday morning and 7,500′ by the evening, with 3-6” of snow possible above 9,000′ as high-elevation snowfall continues in the favorable cold, moist, and unstable northwest flow behind the cold front. Most of the low-elevation rain should be over by noon, but with highs only in the low 40s, below our 50-degree average, there may be some snowflakes in town.
Tuesday should be a nice day with some afternoon sun and highs in the upper 40s, before a quick-moving Pacific storm crossing the northern California coast on Tuesday afternoon approaches our area on Wednesday. Weather forecast models show uncertainty about the storm’s track, but there could be light rain showers from Wednesday afternoon through the night, with highs in the low 50s.
The workweek should end with dry weather and near-average temperatures, with weather models disagreeing on a quick-moving storm from the Pacific Northwest on Saturday. So enjoy the changing weather this week, and I’ll have more details about the possible weekend storm in my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon.
