Issue Date: Thursday, June 2nd, 2022
Issue Time: 10:30MDT
— A LOW flood threat has been issued for the Raton Ridge and parts of the Southeast Plains
With a weak ridge moving into our state, warmer temperatures are expected statewide today. As shown in the visible satellite image, below, a stubborn low cloud deck still remains over southeast Colorado. However, the vertical extent of that cloud deck has decreased down to only 1k-2k feet in depth. With the strong May sunshine, the clouds should quickly dissipate by noon. Once the sunshine is out in full, instability will quickly jump into the 500 – 1,200 J/kg CAPE range over the Palmer Ridge, Raton Ridge and Southeast Plains. Synoptic scale forcing is weak today, but we are in Colorado, so who needs synoptic scale forcing when you have our topography? Diurnal upslope flow will help drive isolated to scattered showers and storms today with the highest coverage along the NM border. Storm motion will be rather slow, in the 20-25mph range, which will help increase rain intensity over a given location.
PW this morning was 0.56 inches at Denver, and 0.37 inches at Grand Junction. Statewide, PW ranged from 0.2 – 0.4 inches west of the Continental Divide, to 0.5 – 0.8 inches to the east. Weak southeasterly advection from the southern Great Plains will increase moisture a bit over southeast Colorado by later this afternoon, with PW expecting to approach 1.0 inch over parts of the Southeast Plains. With relatively deep boundary layer moisture present today, isolated heavy rainfall is expected by late afternoon mainly over the Raton Ridge and surrounding plains. A LOW flood threat has been posted for isolated flash flooding, debris slides and mud flows. Storms are expected to subside by 10PM, through isolated weaker storms could persist through the early overnight hours.
Today’s Flood Threat Map
For more information on today’s flood threat, see the map below. If there is a threat, hover over the threat areas for more details, and click on burn areas to learn more about them. For Zone-Specific forecasts, scroll below the threat map.
Zone-Specific Forecasts:
Northeast Plains, Southeast Plains, Urban Corridor, Palmer Ridge, Southeast Mountains & Raton Ridge:
Becoming partly cloudy and warmer with isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms mainly over the Palmer Ridge, Southeast Plains and Raton Ridge. Max 30-min rain rates up to 0.9 inches possible, with max 1-hour rainfall up to 1.2 inches. A LOW flood threat has been posted for southern portions of the area for isolated flash flooding, debris slides and mud flows. Severe weather is also possible with the stronger storms.
Primetime: 2PM through 10PM, though an isolated storm cannot be ruled after through 1AM
Northwest Slope, Northern Mountains, Front Range, Grand Valley, Central Mountains, San Juan Mountains, Southwest Slope & San Luis Valley:
Mostly sunny and warmer today with temperatures near or slightly above seasonal normal. An isolated shower or weak storm cannot be ruled out over the Front Range and San Juan Mountains and adjoining foothills. Max 1-hour rainfall up to 0.3 inches. Flooding is NOT expected today.
Primetime: Noon through 7PM
