SPM 07-12-2021: Another Hot and Dry Day Across Colorado

Issue Date: Monday, July 12, 2021
Issue Time: 8:45 AM MDT

Summary:

Sunday was another hot and overwhelmingly dry day across Colorado. Afternoon storms in New Mexico briefly reached north into Colorado in the San Juan and Southeast Mountains, but little to no accumulation was observed. There was also a very brief, isolated evening shower in the Central Mountains, but again very little accumulation and mostly just virga. A CoCoRaHS observer in Buena Vista recorded just 0.02 inches, the highest precipitation total in the entire state.

Dry, northwesterly flow kept precipitation chances low, but also worsened conditions over the fires in the Central and Northern Mountains. This also resulted in continued smoke in the air, causing hazy skies and poor air quality.

No flooding was reported on Sunday. For rainfall estimates in your area, including antecedent rainfall, 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.