SPM 05-23-2020: Dry and Warm Weather to Kick Off Memorial Day Weekend

Issue Date: Saturday, May 23rd, 2020
Issue Time: 9:25AM MDT

Summary:

Dry air and a building ridge kept rainfall away for the most part on Friday, which is always helpful when you’re pitching your tent for the weekend. There was some weak rainfall that accumulated over the Southeast Plains last night, but totals were under 0.10 inches and not widespread. The USGS gauge at Big Sandy Creek (near Lamar) recorded 0.05 inches for the 24-hour period. Two fires are currently occurring in Colorado, and thankfully no new fires were reported yesterday. They are both over the southeast border – PCMS Complex and Cherry Canyon. The Cherry Canyon is the main fire concern and is located 10 miles NW of Kim. So far the blaze has burned 7,400 acres, but crews expect to have it contained in a couple of weeks.

For precipitation estimates in your neighborhood over the last 48-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.