Issue Date: Thursday, July 26th, 2018
Issue Time: 9:30 AM MDT

Summary:

Moisture was plentiful yesterday, and Mother Nature did her best to use it to its fullest potential. Scattered showers/thunderstorms dotted the state, with the strongest storms bringing 35 mph to 70 mph wind gusts, hail up to 1 inch in diameter, and heavy rainfall. Flash flooding was observed in a couple locations yesterday:

-Eastbound C-470 was closed at Lucent this morning due to flooding (standing water) on the roadway
-1 mile NNE of Trimble (La Plata County): A 4-to-5 foot wall of debris flowed down Tripp Creek Gulch and spread out as it crossed CR 203 and ran across the yards of several homes along Tripp Creek Road

As far as rainfall observations go, here are the big winners from several counties according to CoCoRaHS:
1.56 inches: Boulder County
1.39 inches: Weld County
1.35 inches: Larimer County
1.26 inches: Logan County, Elbert County
1.25 inches: Adams County
1.22 inches: Douglas County
1.02 inches: Pueblo County

For a look at precipitation estimates in your area, please see our State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Wednesday, June 25th, 2018
Issue Time: 9:30 AM MDT

Summary:

Scattered showers and thunderstorms dotted the Colorado High Country again yesterday, while isolated storms rumbled across eastern Colorado. A couple storms were strong-to-severe, and moisture values remained high enough for thunderstorms to produce heavy rainfall; and produce heavy rainfall they did. Flash flooding was reported in multiple locations, with the following reports submitted to the National Weather Service:

-2 miles S of Rockwood (La Plata County): Flash flooding at the KOA Campground
-3 miles SW of Tacoma (La Plata County): Major flooding along HWY 550 between mile markers 33.6 and 37
-1 mile SSE of Coaldale (Fremont County): County Road 40 in Coaldale flooded and impassable
-5 miles SE of Red Wing (Pueblo County): Major flooding on Pass Creek
-Various reports of flooding across Arapahoe County: Significant intersection flooding at Santa Fe and Oxford; Santa Fe Drive and West Oxford Avenue closed due to flooding creating a sinkhole; Road closed at East 6th Avenue and South Picadilly Road due to flooding; Flooding at intersection of East Iliff Avenue and S. Chambers Road; Flooding at South Buckley Road and East Bates Avenue; Flooding at East Hampden Avenue and S. Uravan Way
-11 miles N of Fort Morgan (Morgan County): Flash flood
-1 mile NE of Log Lane Village (Morgan County): Roads T.5. and V flooded west of HWY 52
-1 mile ESE of Fort Morgan (Morgan County): People trapped in cars on East Riverview Avenue due to water up to the doors
-4 miles NNW of Royal Gorge (Fremont County): US HWY 50 closed due to mud on the road at mile marker 271
-2 miles NW of Gardner (Huerfano County): CO HWY 69 closed at Gardner Road due to flooding

Showers and thunderstorms winded down after sunset, with a few showers and run-of-the-mill thunderstorms lingering into the early morning hours. For a look at precipitation estimates in your area, please see our State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Tuesday, July 24th, 2018
Issue Time: 10:20 AM MDT

Summary:

Wild weather day across eastern Colorado yesterday. There was a little bit of everything – heavy rain, flash flooding, debris flows and finally, one confirmed tornado in Park County. High precipitable water values were streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico over Colorado. After the passage of a cold front, the low-levels were primed for widespread, heavy rainfall yesterday. Storms began to fire over the Front Range and Southeast Mountains just after 12PM. While storm motion was fairly quick to the southeast, back building and multiple rounds of pulse-like storms aided by upper-level support (shortwaves) were able to trigger flooding in an hour or less. There was a debris flow reported on Highway 24 in El Paso County that shut the highway down for a bit. This same storm produced so much rainfall that it triggered the sirens in Manitou Springs. These sirens evacuated low-lying areas of the town. There was also a debris flow reported near the Royal Gorge and another near Bailey on 285.

Flash flooding was widespread over the Southeast Mountains and Front Range/Urban Corridor especially in low-lying intersections. A flash flood warning was issued for the La Veta area as a storm that tracked over the Spring Creek burn scar produced flash flooding along Highway 160. Not surprisingly, Fountain Creek had minor flooding at Green Mountains Falls. Below is the gage at Colorado Springs, where it reached just below minor flooding. It doesn’t help that the storms moved into the Urban Corridors around rush hour causing many cars to stall in the high water. Please don’t drive through standing water. It can take as little as 6 inches to lose control of your vehicles.

As far as observations yesterday. A CoCoRaHS in El Paso County (north of Fountain) recorded 4.12 inches for the 24-hour period with another nearby station recording 3.88 inches! A trained spotter 2 miles NW of Colorado Springs recorded 1.8 inches over a 20 minute period. Further north over Denver, an ALERT gage recorded 2.76 inches in an hour over Aurora (2.87 for the 24-hour period). While a QC will be done on this gage in the off-season (hail contamination), that would be the second highest recorded 1-hour QPE (quantitative precipitation estimate) since Dewberry started collecting data in 2015. The storms formed a mesoscale convective system (MCS) over the far eastern plains that also brought flooding to Lamar and La Junta. There was over a foot of water flowing across Main Street in downtown Lamar around 10PM. Lastly, the Ute Creek SNOTEL site north of Fort Garland had the highest SNOTEL rainfall value for the day – 1.8 inches with 1 inch falling between 2 and 3PM.

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

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Issue Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Issue Time: 09:30 AM MDT

Summary:

West and southwesterly winds aloft helped pull in mid-level moisture with the upper-level high over central New Mexico yesterday. This helped initiate some showers and thunderstorms over the high terrains yesterday mid-afternoon. The bulk of the activity was over the Front Range and Southeast Mountains with more limited coverage over the San Juan Mountains. Due to low-level moisture being scoured out to the west, storms were more outflow driven and produced gusty winds. A severe thunderstorm formed near Pueblo that produced 2.5 inches of rain. Multiple gusts of 65 mph were reported with this storm.

As the storms moved eastward, moisture increased with dew points in the mid-50Fs to mid-60Fs yesterday afternoon. They formed a complex of thunderstorms, which produced heavy rainfall, hail (1.5 inches) and gusty winds. CoCoRaHS stations in Kit Carson County recorded up to 1.89 inches. Over Baca County, a CoCoRaHS station recorded 1.4 inches. While the storms were moving fairly quickly, efficient rain rates caused some flooding issues. Flash flooding of the highway and county roads were reported in Yuma near Bonny Reservoir and Hale. There were several flood advisories and flood warnings over the eastern Colorado counties during the afternoon and evening.

Over the mountains, totals were in the 0.25 to 0.5 inch range. Two flood advisories were issued for the Spring Creek and 416 burn scars. Thankfully, no flooding or debris flows were reported as of this morning. The largest mountain rainfall observation for the day was the Loveland Basin SNOTEL station. It measured 0.8 inches over the 24-hour period.

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

Click Here For Map Overview