Issue Date: 8/20/2015
Issue Time: 9:45AM
— NO Flood Threat Today
We hope you enjoyed the brief cool-down on Wednesday. Because it will quickly give way to summer again. As shown in the water vapor image, below, Colorado will remain under the influence of a post-frontal airmass. This is marked by very dry conditions, with precipitable water values only ranging between 0.40 to 0.65 inches across the state. Temperatures are expected to be 15-25 degrees higher today, compared than yesterday. While most of the state will be under sunny to partly cloudy skies, a bit of instability will develop over the Southeast Plains. This may lead to a stray weak thunderstorm or two. But fast storm motion and a dry atmosphere will preclude heavy rainfall. Thus, we do not expect any flooding today.
Today’s Flood Threat Map
For more information on today’s flood threat, see the map below (hover over threat areas for more details). For Zone-Specific forecasts, jump below the map.
Zone Specific Forecasts
Front Range, Urban Corridor, Northeast Plains, Southeast Plains, Palmer Ridge, Raton Ridge, Southeast Mountains:
Mostly sunny and much warmer today with highs in the 60s in the higher terrain to the mid 90s in the lower elevations of the Arkansas River valley. A stray thunderstorm or two cannot be ruled out south and east of Colorado Springs during the late afternoon and early evening. However, rainfall will be limited to 0.4 inches or less due to fast storm motion. If a storm does develop, it could produce gusty winds up to 45 mph.
Southwest Slope, San Juans, San Luis Valley, Central Mountains, Northern Mountains, Grand Valley, Northwest Slope, Southwest Slope:
Mostly sunny and much warmer today with highs ranging from the low 60s in the highest terrain to the upper 80s in the lower valleys. Relative humidity values are expected to drop into the 10-20% range today, which will slightly raise the wildfire threat. However, low wind speeds and relatively high soil moisture will not be favorable for wildfire propagation.
