SPM 08-10-2020: Mainly Dry with Weak Storms along Eastern Border

Issue Date: Monday, August 10th, 2020
Issue Time: 10:40AM MDT

Summary:

Once again, a few storms were able to track through the eastern and southeastern border counties of Colorado yesterday, but rain totals remained below 0.5 inches according to the QPE analysis. The highest CoCoRaHS rain gauge report this morning is 0.03 inches in southern Prowers County. A Weather Underground station reported 0.06 inches of rain in northeastern Cheyenne County. Unfortunately, rain gauge locations are few and far between along the eastern plains, so the higher QPE totals cannot be verified. Note that the high QPE totals over eastern Lincoln and southwestern Kit Carson counties are likely ground contamination from radar because storms did not track over this area yesterday. Storms over Kit Carson County produced wind gusts up to 68 mph before tracking east into Kansas. No flooding was reported with the storms over the eastern plains.

Yesterday was mainly dry across the state as temperatures soared, especially over the plains of eastern Colorado. Denver tied a daily high temperature record of 98F. Most locations across the plains reached the upper 90Fs, with a few locations hitting 100F. The western half of the state saw warm temperatures in the mid-90Fs for low-elevation valleys, but temperatures remained well below records. Unfortunately, this heat and dry air allowed the Pine Gulch Fire to continue to burn, which is now up to 25,000 acres. Low humidity will allow continued fire growth today. Smoke from the Pine Gulch Fire has also been affecting air quality in the Grand Valley, central and northern mountain valleys, as well as the Urban Corridor, especially overnight when smoke gets trapped in the shallow nocturnal boundary layer. Expect this smoke to affect similar areas today and tonight.

To see how much rain your area received over the last 24, 48, and 72 hours, check out our 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.