SPM 09-24-2020: Isolated Rainfall with a Rumble of Thunder or Two

Issue Date: Thursday, September 24th, 2020
Issue Time: 9:30AM MDT

Summary:

Generally, subsidence and the drying atmosphere behind the departing trough kept the state rain-free on Wednesday. However, the trough left a little bit of moisture for a couple storms to fire over the Southeast Mountains and Palmer Ridge during the afternoon. For the most part, storms only produce light rainfall and a minimal lightning, and all activity ended by the evening. QPE indicates isolated totals up to 0.25 inches, but mostly storms produced under 0.10 inches. The small storm cores made observations hard to come by, but a Weather Underground station in southern Teller County picked up 0.11 inches. As guessed, flooding was not reported.

Large ongoing Colorado wildfires update (as of 9:15AM from InciWeb):

Cameron Peak in the Medicine Bow Mountains: 104,791 acres; 27% contained
Middle Fork Fire in Routt County: 6,760 acres; 0% containment
Williams Fork in the Arapaho National Forest: 12,320 acres; 16% contained

To see precipitation estimates over your neighborhood the last 24 to 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.