Issue Date: Tuesday, June 20th
Issue Time: 11AM MDT
— Flooding is NOT expected today
A high pressure ridge will continue to rule Colorado’s landscape on Tuesday. Temperatures will climb another 5 – 10F higher compared to Monday’s already warm afternoon, with highs exceeding 100F for most locations below 4,500 feet. Certainly a fitting story given that the summer solstice is at 10:24PM MDT tonight! Meanwhile, upslope flow will try to advect much higher moisture into Colorado from the east. A strong Precipitable Water (PW) gradient is noted this morning with Denver and Grand Junction tallying PW below 0.5 inch while locations just east of the Kansas border are above 1 inch. With the higher moisture content, an axis of moderate to strong instability will develop in far southeast Colorado today. Isolated heavy rainfall will be possible with these storms, but we expect that any storm capable of flood-intensity rainfall will move into KS, OK and NM before that can occur. Thus, no flooding is expected today. These cells will also be capable of producing large hail up to 1.75 inches and gusty winds.
Elsewhere, the Arkansas and Roaring Fork rivers continue to run slightly above “Action” levels this morning. With snow melt already peaking and no additional precipitation, these rivers should peak in the very short term and no flooding is expected.
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:
Southeast Plains:
Partly cloudy and hot with an isolated shower or thunderstorm possible along the NM, OK and KS borders. Max 1-hour rainfall up to 1.4 inches. Large hail and gusty winds could accompany the strongest cells. Flooding is not expected today.
Primetime: 2PM to 9PM
Northeast Plains, Urban Corridor, Front Range, Palmer Ridge, Raton Ridge, Southeast Mountains, San Luis Valley:
Mostly sunny and continued warmer today with temperatures exceeding 100F below 5,000 feet. Flooding is not expected today.
Grand Valley, Northwest Slope, Northern Mountains, Central Mountains, Southwest Slope, San Juan Mountains:
Mostly sunny and very hot today with high temperatures exceeding 100F for most locations below 4,500 feet. A Heat Advisory is in effect for parts of the Colorado River valley.
