SPM 09-02-2017: Disturbance Clears Colorado, Produces Mostly Clouds With A Few Heavy “Rainers”

Issue Date: Saturday, September 2, 2017
Issue Time: 9:48AM MDT

Summary:

A disturbance trekked quickly across Colorado on Friday, produces a lot of clouds but only limited rainfall. Most of the rainfall occurred in the form of thunderstorms, focused over the climatologically favored Southeast Mountains, Raton Ridge and San Juan Mountains. Storms made the most of the marginal moisture and a few produced rainfall rates up to about 1.2 inches per hour over Las Animas County and up to 0.7 inches per hour over Conejos County. In Las Animas County, the heavy rainfall fell in close proximity to a few USGS gages and a quick streamflow spike from less than 1 c.f.s. to 60 c.f.s. was noted on the Van Bremer arroyo (see below).

The disturbance also knocked down the afternoon high temperatures closer to seasonal normal west of the Continental Divide. Though, as described in today’s Flood Threat Bulletin, this respite was only temporary.

Flooding was not reported on Friday. For rainfall estimates in your area, check out our State Precipitation Map below.

Click Here For Map Overview

The map below shows radar-estimated, rainfall gage-adjusted Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) across Colorado. The map is updated daily during the operational season (May 1 – Sep 30) by 11AM. The following six layers are currently available: 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation, as well as maximum 1-hour, 2-hour and 6-hour precipitation over the past 24 hour period (to estimate where flash flooding may have occurred). The accumulation ending time is 6AM of the date shown in the bottom right corner. Also shown optionally are fire burn areas since 2012. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.

Note: We have identified a possible underestimation in QPE over the southwest part of the state. We are working to on this issue, and will provide an update as soon as possible.