Issue Date: Sunday, August 2nd, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

Another day of subtropical moisture invading the state produced isolated-to-scattered showers and thunderstorms. Most activity was confined along and near the mountains, thanks to a mid-level disturbance and orographic support. A surface trough oriented northeast-to southwest across the Northeastern Plains forced a few isolated thunderstorms, producing hail and brief heavy rain. No flash flooding was observed yesterday; a few flood advisories were issued by the National Weather Service, but no flooding issues were reported.

As far as local storm reports are concerned, Washington County experienced the storm of the day, so to speak: 62 mph wind gust (Akron), 0.88 inch hail (8 miles NE of Akron), and 1.0 inch hail (11 miles NNE of Akron).

Issue Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

Subtropical moisture increased across most locations yesterday, as the upper-level high pressure system remained anchored in a favorable position. That same high pressure, however, helped to limit the effects of the moisture it provided; most storms remained over/near the higher terrain, mainly across the southern half Colorado. A few storms were able to work over the adjacent lower elevations of the Urban Corridor and Southeast Plains, producing bouts with brief moderate-to-heavy rainfall.

There weren’t any severe storm reports from yesterday, and no flash flooding was observed. Please excuse the static 24-hour precipitation map; we are experiencing interactive map issues this morning,

Issue Date: July 31, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00AM

Summary

Though storm coverage was limited on Thursday, the storms that did form were quite impressive. With subtropical moisture feeding in from western Mexico, storms were able to produce extremely efficient rainfall. The most noteworthy storm of the day was observed over Yuma County during the mid and late afternoon hours. An initial thunderstorm eventually led to the development of a small complex of slow moving storms. During their peak intensity, these storms were able to produce about 2.8 inches of rain in 30 minutes! We believe that this is the heaviest rainfall rate observed anywhere across the state thus far this season. With this kind of rain rate, it was not surprising to see flooding reports: 3 reports across Yuma County noted up to a foot of water covering roadways. It is interesting to note that these storms were so confined (and moved over relatively rural land) that the highest observed CoCoRaHS report was a 24-hour total of only 2.1 inches. In addition to the rainfall, very strong winds up to 80 mph accompanied this storm complex, knocking down trees up to one foot in diameter.

Elsewhere, heavy rainfall was observed in far southeast Colorado, with a report in Baca County of right around 2 inches. Rain also fell in the higher terrain of the Southeast Mountains and San Juan Mountains. There, reports were limited to the 0.4 – 0.75 inch range.

For an estimate of 24-hour rainfall that occurred in your area, please check out our radar based map below.

Issue Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

Yesterday was another pleasant day overall, providing for a great mid-week bridge to the downhill side of the work week. While subtropical moisture streamed overhead, it was again the general lack of instability and mid-/upper-level dynamics that kept showers/thunderstorms on the weak side. Mountain locations along the Front Range, Central Mountains, and Southeast Mountains experienced the most coverage of thunderstorms where orographic effects helped make up for the lack of other support. Also, the Raton Ridge and Southeast Plains along the CO/NM border received a few pockets of rainfall during the afternoon and evening hours, as stronger storms graced northern NM.

Rain totals and, for that matter, rain rates, were generally low. As of 7 AM, the only totals reported greater than 0.1 inches by CoCoRaHS observers were Chaffee County (0.77 inches) and Teller County (0.36 inches).

There weren’t any severe storm reports from yesterday, and no flash flooding was observed.