SPM 05-22-2021: Continued Heavy Rain in Southwest – Severe Thunderstorms on Eastern Plains

Issue Date: Saturday, May 22, 2021
Issue Time: 9:45 am MDT

Summary

The Southwest Corner of the state continued to receive steady rainfall, and even snow at times, for most of the day and overnight yesterday. Rainfall totals exceeded 2 inches in some locations, which is reflected in the State Precipitation Map below. According to the 1981-2010 climate normals from PRISM, average monthly rainfall for May in this region is around 1.6-2.8 inches, so many locations received their average monthly precipitation for May in just the past 24-hours.

On the Eastern Plains, lines of thunderstorms began to develop in the late afternoon and early evening, resulting in several severe thunderstorm warnings issued by the Pueblo and Boulder WFOs. The main threat from these storms was high winds and hail, but there was also short-duration intense rainfall. The linear nature of these convective storms is also seen in the State Precipitation Map below, with elongated but narrow bands of precipitation.

Flooding was not reported on Friday. For additional rainfall estimates in your area, 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 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.