Issue Date: Saturday, August 11th, 2018
Issue Time: 09:15 AM MDT

Summary:

Two distinct batches of precipitation occurred across Colorado yesterday, neither of which produced particularly heavy precipitation or generated any reports of flooding. Somewhat unusually, a complex of storms formed in the very early morning hours of Friday over the Cheyenne Ridge and pushed southwards across the eastern plains throughout the morning. These storms were generally weak and short-lived, but rainfalls of 0.50” from 8.4 miles NNE of Burlington (Kit Carson County) and 0.30” from 6.4 miles WSW of Vernon (Yuma County) were reported by CoCoRaHS observers.

The top reports of the day, however, come from mountain locations, where scattered afternoon storms produced a few credible reports of precipitation greater than 0.50”:

• Pagosa Springs 1.6 SSW (Archuleta County): 0.89”
• Columbus Basin SNOTEL site (La Plata County): 0.60”
• Hoosier Pass SNOTEL site (border of Summit and Park Counties): 0.60”

Across much of the rest of the state, it was a mostly sunny and seasonably warm day.

To see how much precipitation fell over your area yesterday, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Friday, August 10th, 2018
Issue Time: 09:40 AM MDT

Summary:

Northerly flow aloft with a slight easterly component kept convection on Thursday confined to the mountains. The SPM also shows the thunderstorms that formed early this morning over the Northeast Plains with a passing vorticity max. With subtropical moisture to the south, widespread flooding was not anticipated or realized. A westward shift in the main axis of convection brought some much needed rainfall to the eastern San Juan Mountains and southern Central Mountains. Storm motion was south yesterday, so after storms formed over Saguache County they brought rain into the San Luis Valley. CoCoRaHS stations in Alamosa recorded between 0.3 and 0.4 inches of rainfall. To the east, the Whiskey Creek SNOTEL site (south of La Veta) recorded the largest 24-hour observation at 0.9 inches. Storms yesterday tracked mostly over remote areas with limited gages. Paired with radar beam blockage, the best estimates for average totals from yesterday’s rainfall are between 0.25 and 0.6 inches. Lastly, an areal flood advisory was issued for the Chalk Cliffs in Chaffee County. There was no flooding reported for Thursday.

To see how much precipitation fell over your area yesterday, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Thursday, August 9th, 2018
Issue Time: 09:20 AM MDT

Summary:

Interesting start to Wednesday morning with thunderstorms well under way over the Northeast Plains from the prior night. These storms worked their way south through the morning/afternoon and produced some severe hail (1.25 inches) and gusty winds. Even a rare morning tornado was reported at 6:30am in Weld County. There was quite a bit of convection on the west side of this disturbance. A gust front from the storm pushed up against the Front Range and brought fog to the Urban Corridor by mid-morning. This pretty much killed all the chances for convection in the afternoon hours. With dew points in the 60Fs, this system was able to drop some heavy rainfall as it quickly progressed south. Max 1-hour rain rates just under 1 inch were estimated from radar. A CoCoRaHS station near Woodrow reported 0.97 inch of rain from the thunderstorm complex.

During the afternoon, more isolated thunderstorms popped up over the southern Southeast Mountains. Two flash flood warnings were issued for the Spring Creek burn scar, but thankfully no flooding was reported. Radar estimated this area received up to 1.5 inches of rainfall, but this total did not fall over the burn scar itself. Convection ended around 6PM with some light showers over the higher terrains through early morning.

To see how much precipitation fell over your area, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Wednesday, August 8th, 2018
Issue Time: 09:45 AM MDT

Summary:

Another active day on Tuesday with a second round of severe thunderstorms occurring over eastern Colorado. Decent shear and high instability set the stage for another day of strong storms. Thunderstorms on Tuesday were less severe and widespread than Monday, but they still produced some impressive heavy rainfall, strong winds and large hail. Storms first began to fire over the southern mountains by mid-afternoon and then further north during the evening hours. A passing shortwave helped keep storms thriving over the eastern plains during overnight hours and into this morning.

Similar to Monday, there were several severe thunderstorm warnings and even a tornado warning for Weld County near Keota this morning. A brief touchdown was reported in a field with no damage occurring. Storms yesterday were again big hail producers with hail up to 2 inches in diameter occurring under the strongest storm cores. Outflow boundaries from these storms help kick off more thunderstorm action, and a gust of 57 mph was measured at a mesonet station in Strasburg. As far as rainfall, storms yesterday produced 1-hour rain rates just over 1.5 inches. A storm in El Paso County produced 2 inches of rainfall according to radar estimates, which was the largest rain producer of the day. There were a couple of areal flood advisories, though flooding was not reported. Most storms did not track over the same areas that received heavy rainfall on Monday. The Purgatoire river gage at Las Animas is currently in Action stage, but it is not expected to reach Minor flooding.

To see how much precipitation fell over your neighborhood, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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