SPM 08-26-2020: Widespread Showers & Storms Bring Beneficial Rainfall

Issue Date: Wednesday, August 26th, 2020
Issue Time: 11:15AM MDT

Summary:

Showers and storms covered much of the high terrain across Colorado yesterday, producing rain totals up to 0.82 inches according to rain gauge observations. This 0.82 inch total was reported by a CoCoRaHS observer along the southern tip of the Spring Creek burn area, and 0.46 inches was reported on the other side of the mountain ridge along the southwest edge of the burn area. A nearby USGS gage reported 0.5 inches. Surprisingly, no flooding was reported near the Spring Creek burn area as of this morning.

Elsewhere, A 0.7 inch rain total was reported from a CoCoRaHS observer in Rico (western San Juan Mountains), and totals near up to 0.75 inches were observed in Douglas County, south of the Denver metro area. A SNOTEL site at Hayden Pass (northern Southeast Mountains) also reported 0.7 inches of rain accumulation. Today’s QPE map shows heavy rain fell over Fremont County, with totals just over 1 inch indicated near the southern border with Custer County. Storms over this area triggered the one and only flash flood warning yesterday. No flooding was observed across Colorado as of this morning.

Ongoing large CO fire update (as of 10:45AM on InciWeb):
Pine Gulch – north of Grand Junction: 135,920 acres; 47% contained
Grizzly Creek – Glenwood Canyon: 32,060 acres; 61% contained (large jump in containment)
Cameron Peak – Medicine Bow Mountains: 21,017 acres; 0% contained
Williams Fork – Arapaho National Forest: 11,726 acres; 5% contained

For rainfall estimates in your area over the last 24 to 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.