Issue Date: Thursday, September 2nd, 2021
Issue Time: 10:35 AM MDT
Summary:
As expected, the remnants of Hurricane Nora brought plenty of late-season monsoonal moisture and therefore widespread storm coverage to nearly all of Colorado yesterday. The western half of the state benefited from rainfall the most, beginning in the early morning hours in the Grand Valley and Western Slopes before filling in in coverage to the Northern, Central, and San Juan Mountains by early afternoon.
Heavy rain occurred in the Grand Valley, where between 0.70-1.02 inches were reported across Grand Junction. A new daily rainfall record was set at the Grand Junction Airport – 0.76 inches in 24-hours, breaking the previous record from 1937.
A new daily rainfall record was set at the @GJAirport yesterday! For September 1, we received 0.76 inches of precipitation which broke the old record of 0.50 inches set back in 1937. #cowx pic.twitter.com/IVMwjlB1x4
— NWS Grand Junction (@NWSGJT) September 2, 2021
Some other notable rainfall totals from CoCoRaHS observers and MesoWest gauges across Western Colorado include:
- 1.09 inches in Hesperus
- 0.99 inches in Ignacio
- 0.89 inches west of Glenwood Springs
- 0.84 inches in Hotchkiss
- 0.83 inches in Cahone (Western Dolores County)
- 0.80 inches in Durango and Chromo
- 0.77 inches north of Pagosa Springs
- 0.68 inches in Fort Garland
- 0.67 inches in Cortez
- 0.45-0.68 inches across Steamboat Springs and the surrounding area
- 0.57 inches at Sand Dunes National Park
- 0.50 inches in Crested Butte
Thankfully gentle rainfall rates helped to minimize flood potential, even with the long-duration rainfall. Additionally, up to 0.25 inches of rain fell on the Black Mountain Fire in Grand County, which helped to moderate fire activity.
By evening, the eastward progression of the low resulted in increased shower coverage over the Front Range Mountains, Southeast Mountains, and Urban Corridor, though rainfall totals were lighter due to downsloping winds and dry air closer to the surface, less than 0.25 inches was reported across the Urban Corridor.
On the Eastern Plains and Palmer Ridge, widespread convective storm coverage began in the evening, with some localized higher rainfall totals. 1.20 inches was reported in Julesburg, with 0.50-0.80 inch totals along the I-76 corridor. High winds from a severe thunderstorm in Burlington with gusts over 75 mph caused extensive wind damage: a 50 mph gust took out the ASOS station in Burlington, there are reports of downed trees and damage to power lines resulting in power outages, and damage to mobile homes and windows. The Burlington area also received up to 0.90 inches of rain according to a CoCoRaHS observer.
The eventual exit of the low-pressure system and surface trough in the early morning hours caused a clearing out for most of the Colorado, though residual moisture in Southwest Slope and Grand Valley has caused some isolated early morning showers.
Almost miraculously, no flooding was reported on Wednesday. For rainfall estimates in your area, check out the State Precipitation Map below.
Click Here For Map Overview
