Issue Date: Thursday, June 11th, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

A disturbance slowly moving across the state coordinated multiple rounds of storm activity across most of Colorado. Over the southern half of the state, storms had to battle very dry air aloft to survive, which likely reduced rainfall rates. Twenty-four hour rain totals amounted to over an inch in Douglas, Mesa and La Plata counties as well as isolated areas in far eastern Colorado. Meanwhile, the highest hourly rain rates may have occurred with a batch of storms moving eastward off the higher terrain and into the Urban Corridor between 3 and 5 PM. One such storm passed over the sensor-rich Urban Drainage ALERT network, dumping about 0.9 inches of rain in less than an hour at two separate gauges.

In addition to the heavy rain, strong winds were reported in Cheyenne county and a funnel cloud was reported in El Paso county.

Meanwhile, the rapid snowmelt continued in the higher terrain. Elevations below 10,000 feet are essentially snow-free with the remaining snowpack retreating towards wooded, very high-elevation regions between 10,000 feet and the treeline.

No official flooding reports were received yesterday. For estimated rainfall in your area, be sure to check out the rainfall map below.

Issue Date: Wednesday, June 10th, 2015
Issue Time: 9:10 AM MDT

Summary:

Pulses of energy from the upper-level system over California made their first appearance in Colorado on Wednesday. Most action was limited to west of the Divide where the atmosphere began to moisten up, allowing for showers and a few low-end thunderstorms. Fortunately, most rain rates were light and no flooding was reported.

East of the Divide, the presence of dew points in the 40s and 50s often signifies a heavy rainfall threat. However, the upper-level dynamics were just not conducive…yet! Nonetheless, a rogue batch of cells popped up over the I-70 corridor west of Denver in the late afternoon. As these cells moved eastward, where moisture was more plentiful, one of the cells managed to dump just under an inch of rain in an hour over Jefferson and Adams counties. Aside from nuisance street ponding, no problems were reported. The cells quickly fell apart towards sunset.

Switching topics a bit, we are deep into snowmelt season. This year’s melt-off has been gradual enough where serious flooding was thus far been avoided. There remain some flood advisories for mountain streams in the Front Range, Central Mountains and San Juans, These flooding concerns should ease in the very near future as the snowpack has drastically receded over the past week in all but the highest of elevations. For example, check out this impressive melting at the Deadman Hill SNOTEL site (data from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service). That’s 14.7 inches of Snow Water Equivalent (or about 30 inches of snow depth) gone in just 10 days!

For estimated rainfall in your area, be sure to check out the rainfall map below.

Issue Date: Tuesday, June 9th, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

FLOOD WARNINGS/ADVISORIES CONTINUE FOR PORTIONS OF THE CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER, SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, ARKANSAS RIVER, SOUTH BOULDER CREEK AND VARIOUS STREAMS AND RIVERS ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO DUE TO SNOWMELT AND RAINFALL RUNOFF.

High pressure aloft and at the surface acted to make yesterday that driest day overall in quite some time. There is not much to report in this Storm Total Precipitation discussion. Looking ahead, this product will become especially important in the coming days as another moisture surge and slow-moving system looks to impact Colorado. For insight into the upcoming system, check out the Flood Threat Outlook that was published yesterday afternoon and, as always, stay up-to-date with the daily Flood Threat Bulletin.

No flash flooding was reported yesterday.

Issue Date: Monday, June 8th, 2015
Issue Time: 9:00 AM MDT

Summary:

FLOOD WARNINGS/ADVISORIES CONTINUE FOR PORTIONS OF THE CACHE LA POUDRE RIVER, SOUTH PLATTE RIVER, ARKANSAS RIVER, SOUTH BOULDER CREEK AND VARIOUS STREAMS AND RIVERS ACROSS WESTERN COLORADO DUE TO SNOWMELT AND RAINFALL RUNOFF.

Another day with precipitable water values running above average led to scattered showers and thunderstorms. A few severe storms were generated over the Northeastern and Southeastern Plains, producing hail up to 1 inch in diameter. These few severe reports indicating large hail came from Phillips and Baca Counties yesterday afternoon. Overall, the coverage of thunderstorms was down from the previous day, but heavy rain was still produced by stronger thunderstorms. Flash flooding was observed in the Denver Metro Area as a car was left stranded on the off-ramp from I-70W to I-25S. Additionally, flash flooding was observed in the Park Hill area of Denver, and other street flooding occurred at low-lying intersections.

For a look at statewide rainfall totals, be sure and check out the radar-estimated Storm Total Precipitation map below.