Issue Date: Sunday, May 27th, 2018
Issue Time: 9:30 AM MDT

Summary:

Yesterday was hot statewide underneath the ridge of high pressure aloft. As the ridge axis shifted eastward, south-southwesterly flow aloft was able to drag mid- and high-clouds overhead from New Mexico, resulting in a mostly cloudy afternoon/evening across the San Juan Mountains, San Luis Valley, Central Mountains, Southeast Mountains, Southeast Plains, Raton Ridge, Front Range, Urban Corridor, and western portions of the Northeast Plains regions. After sunset, mid-level moisture accompanied by a weak disturbance was able to sneak into far western CO (near the Utah border), resulting in a few high-based showers that resulted in virga and gusty winds, with a brief sprinkle reaching the surface of higher elevations, at most.

No flash flooding was reported yesterday.

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Issue Date: Saturday, May 26th, 2018
Issue Time: 9:30 AM MDT

Summary:

Sunny skies and warm temperatures were the result of high pressure ridging setting up shop over Colorado yesterday. The skies were dotted by a few fair weather cumulus, especially over/near the higher terrain, as that was all the atmosphere could muster yesterday. Since there isn’t much precipitation about which to talk, the fire weather conditions setting up for this weekend deserve some attention. Very dry air will combine with gusty winds across much of the state, with the worst conditions across southern Colorado west of I-25 thanks to dry fuels from worsening drought conditions. It is of utmost importance to be careful with anything that may produce a spark, including grilling on this holiday weekend. Please check in with your local National Weather Service office for more information regarding the Red Flag Warnings.

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Issue Date: Friday, May 25, 2018
Issue Time: 09:30AM MDT

Summary:

A couple isolated thunderstorms were able to kick off near the Palmer Ridge yesterday afternoon along a weak line of convergence. With moisture limited to the west, due to the building ridge, a strong outflow boundary was produced. The La Junta airport measured this gust at 37 mph. As the isolated thunderstorms traveled east, they moved into 45-50F dew points over Cheyenne and Kit Carson County. This small increase in moisture helped drop some impressive rain totals under the cores of the storms. Radar rainfall estimates were just over 1.5 inches with a CoCoRaHS station SW of Burlington recording 0.49 inches. These storms also produced 1 inch hail in Kit Carson County.

Flooding was not reported on Thursday. For rainfall estimates in your area, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

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Issue Date: Thursday, May 24th, 2018
Issue Time: 10:45 AM MDT

Summary:

Colorado has been slowly drying over the past couple days, as the system that brought intense thunderstorms early in the week moved out of the area, ushering in drying southwest winds. That being said, conditions allowed for the development of scattered thunderstorms from the Front Range, through the Urban Corridor, and into the Northeast Plains. The intensity of these storms were somewhat limited due to a lack of adequate moisture, although some storms across the northern Urban Corridor and Northeast Plains were able to generate rainfall rates of about 0.25 inches/hour. The rest of the state enjoyed a warm and sunny Wednesday with no major rainfall.

The persistent warm and dry conditions for the mountains has meant major snowmelt for the high country. Shown below are SNOTEL gauges in the mountains, indicating that the only gauges with measured snowpack left are in the northern mountains. And of these, only a few are at near-normal snowpack for this time of year. No flooding was reported in Colorado yesterday.

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