SPM 06-09-2021: Hot and Dry Across State

Issue Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Issue Time: 9:15AM MDT

Summary:

Yesterday was another hot and dry day across nearly the entire state, as high pressure in the southwest continued to stifle changes in the large-scale pattern. There were only a handful of isolated Trace to 0.20 inch precipitation observations scattered across the state by CoCoRaHS observers and other networks.

The 4:00 pm update to the Flood Threat Bulletin yesterday indicated a cumulus field over the northern Front Range, Medicine Bow, and Laramie Mountains. This eventually developed enough to drop a very quick 0.17 inches of rain at Livermore in northern Larimer County shortly after 6:00 pm, as seen in the time series plot below. However, the heaviest precipitation associated with these cells ended up falling north of the border in Wyoming.

No severe weather warnings were issued, and no flooding was reported yesterday. For rainfall estimates in your area, including antecedent rainfall conditions, check out 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.

Note: The 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation do not contain bias corrections today due to errors in the CoCoRaHS data. This means there may be underestimations in QPE over the southwest and southeast corners of the state.