SPM 08-11-2021: Yet Another Hot and Smoky Summer Day – Isolated Southeast Storms

Issue Date: Wednesday, August 11th, 2021
Issue Time: 9:10 AM MDT

Summary:

Isolated afternoon thunderstorms developed in the Southeast Mountains, Palmer Ridge, Raton Ridge, and Southeast Plains on Tuesday. Like the last few days, a lack of available moisture limited rainfall rates and precipitation totals to only the strongest cells. A CoCoRaHS observer in Walsenberg, just north of the Spring Creek burn scar in the Southeast Mountains, reported 0.42 inches of rain yesterday with the remark that it all fell in about a 20-minute afternoon thunderstorm. A severe warned thunderstorm also developed on Southwest Plains in rural Cheyenne County after Doppler radar indicated quarter size hail. Due to the rural nature of the location, there are limited precipitation observations, but the gridded MetStorm QPE in the map below suggests up to 0.25 inches of rain fell.

Tuesday was also yet another smoky day across all of Colorado, with the entire state covered by air quality advisories. There’s been no relief from the smoke, even at high elevations and on mountain peaks – WeatherNation shared the following video from Long’s Peak looking out over a blanket of smoke and haze at lower elevations.

No flooding was reported on Tuesday. For rainfall estimates in your area, 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 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.