Issue Date: Saturday, August 8th, 2020
Issue Time: 09:45AM MDT
— Flooding is NOT expected today
Today will be continued dry and warm for much of the state as dry air is being pumped in from the southwest due to a significant trough moving into the western US (see satellite image below). PW values in this morning’s soundings at Grand Junction (0.32 in) and Denver (0.42 in) are extremely low, indicating little moisture is available over Colorado. Surface dew points this morning are bone dry (20Fs & 30Fs) for western Colorado and the western half of the plains, but some 40Fs and 50Fs dew points were able to hang on for the eastern Colorado border counties.
Some clouds and showers are visible over northeast Colorado this morning (blue colors on satellite image below), which is associated with a shortwave ejecting off the mountains. This shortwave will allow storms to fire near the northeast borders of Colorado today before moving northeast into Nebraska, where storms could become severe. A low pressure system will develop over the eastern border of Colorado, which will help these storms by allowing some higher surface moisture (50Fs dew points) to remain over the northeast border counties with easterly flow. This low pressure placement will favor drier northerly and westerly winds for the rest of the plains regions, which will limit coverage of storms to only the northeastern borders of Colorado today. Due to the limited moisture and low chances of storms lingering long over Colorado with 20-30 mph mid-level flow, flooding is not expected for the northeast border areas of Colorado today.
Strong diurnal heating will allow some mountain clouds and showers to develop over the southern mountains and Raton Ridge, but limited moisture will prevent any significant rainfall today. No flooding is expected over the mountains today.
Today’s Flood Threat Map
For more information on today’s flood threat, see the map below. Hover over the threat areas for more details, and click on burn areas to learn more about them. For Zone-Specific forecasts, scroll below the threat map.
Zone-Specific Forecasts:
Northeast Plains, Urban Corridor, Palmer Ridge, & Southeast Plains:
Some clouds and light showers over the Northeast Plains will end this morning and make way for plenty of sunshine. Partly cloudy skies and warm weather is expected for most locations this afternoon. A slight chance exists for thunderstorms to develop along the northeastern borders of Colorado. A storm could drop up to 0.2 inches of rain over these border regions before moving out of the state. No flooding is expected.
Primetime: 2PM to 6PM
Grand Valley, Northwest Slope, Northern Mountains, Front Range, Central Mountains, Southwest Slope, San Juan Mountains, San Luis Valley, Southeast Mountains, & Raton Ridge:
Afternoon clouds will develop along mountain ridges this afternoon, with the highest coverage expected over the San Juan & Southeast Mountains and Raton Ridge. Showers are not out of the question over the southern mountains and Raton Ridge, but abundant dry air should limit rain accumulations to only high elevation locations. Max rain rates up to 0.1 in/hr. No flooding is expected.
Primetime: 12PM to 6PM
