SPM 05-11-2020: Moisture Begins to Arrive from the South Sparking High-Based Storms

Issue Date: Monday, May 11th, 2020
Issue Time: 10AM MDT

Summary:

A shortwave trough helped push the ridge slightly east to help pull moisture up from the south over western Colorado. This triggered some high based storms and showers yesterday afternoon that continued overnight. The low levels were still quite dry, which limited the accumulations. Overall, less than 0.1 inches fell across the Grand Valley, Central/San Juan Mountains and Southwest Slope. There were a couple spots in eastern Montrose, Mesa and Pitkin county that received 0.25 inches according to CoCoRaHS in the area. Several CoCoRaHS reported at least some rainfall in the region. Looking for that moisture to increase this afternoon for more wetting rainfall. Flooding was not reported on Sunday.

For precipitation estimates in your neighborhood over the last 24-hours, scroll down to the State Precipitation Map below.

Click Here For Map Overview

The map below shows radar-estimated, rainfall gage-adjusted Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) across Colorado. The map is updated daily during the operational season (May 1 – Sep 30) by 11AM. The following six layers are currently available: 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation, as well as maximum 1-hour, 2-hour and 6-hour precipitation over the past 24 hour period (to estimate where flash flooding may have occurred). The 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation contain bias corrections that are not disaggregated into the hourly estimates, so there will likely be some differences. The accumulation ending time is 7AM of the date shown in the bottom right corner. Also shown optionally are vulnerable fire burn areas (post 2012), which are updated throughout the season to include new, vulnerable burn areas. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.