Summit County Citizens Voice

Hazy skies from wildfires to the northwest should give way to a southwest flow and perhaps a chance for some precipitation late in the weekend or early next week.

Incoming storm should shift the winds and may drop a little rain early next week

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — The hazy skies over Summit County and the rest of Colorado should clear this weekend, as a significant change in the weather pattern will bring southwest winds, along with a chance of showers, during the second half of the weekend and into the first part of next week.

The haze is from forest fires burning in the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies. The ridge of high pressure that has prevailed over the Rockies the past few weeks has brought steady upper-air winds from the northwest, carrying the smoke into the area.

A deep Aleutian low pressure system cranking up over the Gulf of Alaska should start to change the weather pattern in the next few days.

A low pressure system developing in the Pacific should start to push the high pressure ridge to the east and bring more of a westerly flow, helping to clear Colorado skies. By late Sunday, the flow will shift to the southwest, with some moisture moving into the area for high-based thunderstorms. For now, the forecast says not much of the precipitation will reach the ground.

By Monday, the Pacific storms starts to move inland, but the track is still highly uncertain, with some models bringing the system across the Four Corners, while others show it tracking along the Colorado-Wyoming border. The best chance for some rain may be Monday night into Tuesday.

Until then, temperatures will continue to run near to slightly above average for this time of year. The outlook for the first part of fall is for continued above-average temperatures, with near-normal precipitation — which isn’t much, since September and October are some of the driest months of the year.

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Snow and weather, Summit County snow and weather Tagged: | autumn, Colorado, Colorado weather, Rockies, seasons, Summit County