Issue Date: Friday, July 15th, 2022
Issue Time: 11:00 AM MDT
Summary:
The North American Monsoon continues to bring moisture to western and central Colorado, and by early afternoon daytime heating induced storms in the high elevations of the San Juan, Southeast, Central, and Northern Mountains, as well as along the Front Range. General eastward progression then pushed storms onto the Urban Corridor, Palmer Ridge, and Eastern Plains by evening, increasing in coverage as well.
While the severe threat was limited yesterday, some storms were still able to produce localized heavy rainfall, gusty outflow winds, and small hail. A report of 0.25 inch hail was made in Vail and a CoCoRaHS observer left the following remark:
“After waiting all afternoon for the forecasted rain, the very intense storm arrived about 5:10 pm. The storm was fast moving but wild with very heavy rain, hail, and wind. the rain came down in sheets and the noise from the rain on the roof was so loud we couldn’t hear the news on the TV. ”
Their station saw 0.28 inches of precipitation yesterday. Further east, A 58-mph thunderstorm wind gust was reported at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, which saw 0.32 inches of rain as well. Some other notable rainfall totals around the state include:
- 0.74 in Woodland Park (CoCoRaHS)
- 0.69 in Gould (CoCoRaHS)
- 0.63 in Bonanza (CoCoRaHS)
- 0.61 at Colorado River near Cameo (USGS)
- 0.59 at Silver Jack Reservoir near Cimarron (USGS)
- 0.56 in Pagosa Springs and Westcliffe (CoCoRaHS)
A flood advisory was issued for a small portion of Grand County, including a part of the East Troublesome burn scar. USGS gauges on the East Troublesome scar and near Grand Lake saw only Trace-0.02 inches yesterday, with similar observations from CoCoRaHS and available on the MesoWest network. No flooding was reported. However, much of the high elevations have remained under Flood Watches for the past several days, especially the vulnerable burn scars. 72-hour QPE from MetStorm Live (bottom of today’s post) indicates areas of up to 2 inches of rain over the northern portions of the East Troublesome scar, and widespread 0.5 inches of rainfall on Cameron Peak.
This morning CDOT reported a rock slide on US50 between County Road 157 and CO69. It is unclear if this is flood related, but Cotopaxi (a bit south) saw 0.18 inches of rain yesterday. Based on the report from Luke Victor below, there were little transportation impacts.
Sounds like the majority of the debris was able to fit in 1 pickup truck according to State Patrol… This doesn’t seem like it will be a huge issue.
— Luke Victor 🌧📈 (@LukeVictorWx) July 15, 2022
It was hot and dry for Eastern Colorado, with highs in the upper 90s and low 100s in the Urban Corridor, Eastern Plains, and Raton Ridge. Slightly lower temperatures, mid-90s, were seen the Palmer Ridge. A bit of relief from the high temperatures came for Southeast Plains following an outflow boundary from yesterday’s storms, as seen in the radar imagery and temperatures tables from PUB below. A hay bale-induced grass fire was ignited yesterday afternoon north of Joes (Yuma County). Thankfully no additional damage has been reported with that fire.
The outflow boundary went through La Junta around 650 pm with gusty winds to 40 mph and a 10F drop in temperature! Kiowa, Bent and Prowers counties…you are next! #cowx pic.twitter.com/1bQJGlVhJs
— NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) July 15, 2022
Reminder, if you observe flooding in your area you can use use the “Report a Flood” page to submit flood reports when you can safely do so. For precipitation estimates in our area, check out the map below.
