Issue Date: Friday, June 3rd, 2016
Issue Time: 9:00AM MDT
— There is No flood threat today.
Today’s Precipitable Water (PW) chart, below, says it all. PW values have dropped to below 0.6 inches across all stations and this morning’s levels are now near or below their seasonal averages. For reference, the Boulder station’s average (blue line below) for today is 0.57 inches. Temperatures will be near seasonal averages again today, and may be held down a few degrees by a mid-level cloud deck streaming in from the northwest. A building ridge to the west will provide subsidence statewide and rainfall is not expected today.
Area streams continue to move upward and snowmelt increases. However, this morning analysis shows that all streams all below minor flood stage and are expected to stay that way through the weekend. However, hikers and water-goers should be aware that there is a daily cycle to many high elevation streams and snowmelt is in progress. An example is shown below for the Dolores River. There are two things to note. First, in this case, there is about a 1 foot difference in river levels between the peaks and troughs. This may be even higher when temperatures are particularly warm. Second, in this case the peaks occurs well into the evening, due to the delayed effect of the runoff. This gage is quite representative of other locations.
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, scroll below the map.
Zone-Specific Forecasts:
Front Range, Urban Corridor, Northeast Plains, Palmer Ridge, Southeast Plains, Southeast Mountains, Raton Ridge, San Juan Mountains, San Luis Valley:
Partly sunny and warm with some mid-level clouds continuing to stream in from the northwest. Rainfall is not expected, neither is flooding.
Central Mountains, Northern Mountains, Grand Valley, Northwest Slope, Southwest Slope:
Mostly sunny and very warm today. Rainfall is not expected, neither is flooding.
