Issue Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Issue Time: 10:25AM MDT
Summary:
Precipitable Water (PW) ended up increasing dramatically over the entire eastern portion of the state yesterday afternoon. PW values were at least 1 inch and over 1.5 inches in the Northeast Plains. Convection occurred over the central and southern mountains, with 1 hour rain rates just over 0.5 inches with Silverton reporting 0.62 inches in one hour. Teller County reported 0.6 inches in 30 minutes. The highest total rainfall recorded value was over Clear Creek County with 1.1 inches in 3 hours. Radar estimates 3 hour totals of 2 inches. Small stream flooding occurred over Cotopaxi and Texas Creek in west Fremont County at 6:50 PM.
Both Colorado Springs and Pueblo had areal flooding advisories and flash flooding. Over Colorado Springs, rainfall totals of 2.37 inches were reported. There was even a report of 2.94 inches in just over 30 minutes in this same area southwest of Colorado Springs. This was located in the storm core, but there isn’t a sure way to verify this amount. Nonetheless, it shows the intensity of the rainfall. Radar estimates were 1.5 inches per hour with 3-hour totals of 2.5 inches. Total rainfall over Pueblo was estimated at 1.5 inches. Over Colorado Springs, total rainfall was estimated at 2.5 with the highest recorded precipitation value of 1.18 inches at a CoCoRaHS station near the airport. Gusts up to 41 mph were also recorded. A photo from Sand Creek in Colorado Springs from KKTV 11 News is below.
Lastly, severe thunderstorms fired over the Northeast Plains along a surface boundary. High PW in this area and dew points up to 65F, lead to heavy local rainfall, flooding, strong winds and 1 inch hail. A flash flood warning was issued for west central Yuma County at 6:35 PM where a severe thunderstorm produced 3 to 5 inches of rain. Radar estimated storm totals show up to 4+ inches with 1-hour rain rates of 2.5 inches and 2-hour rain rates of 4 inches. CoCoRaHS in the area have rainfall total up to 1.54 inches, but most of the storms occurred in ungauged territories. There were no official flood reports for these storms.
To see how much precipitation fell over the last 24 hours, see the Storm Total Precipitation Map below.
