SPM 06-03-2018: Dry, Pleasant Saturday Kicks off Meteorological Summer

Issue Date: Sunday, June 3rd, 2018
Issue Time: 10:30 AM MDT

Summary:

The first weekend of meteorological summer (defined as June 1^st to August 31^st) is underway, and it got summer off to a spectacular start. A cold front pushed across much of the state on Friday night, leaving cooler and drier air in place across the state for Saturday, along with a pleasant breeze for many. Temperatures were largely seasonal, with low temperatures primarily in the upper 40°s to mid 50°s across the low country with 30°s in the mountains (left panel of figure below). Most mountain locations topped out in the 60°s, with 70°s and 80°s common on the plains (right panel), making for some dramatic temperature swings on a localized basis. San Luis (south-central) had a low of 29°F and a high of 82°F for a swing of 53°F, with the 52°F swing at Cortez (low 37°F, high 89°F) close behind.

Of course, the dry air also comes with a price, particularly when coupled with existing drought conditions across the southern portion of the state. As the below true-color satellite image from Saturday afternoon shows, two large areas of wildfire smoke were affecting the state. The southeastern pocket of smoke was blowing across the border from northern New Mexico, where the Ute Park fire was burning out of control yesterday. The second area of smoke, located primarily over the San Juan National Forest, was due to the “416 Fire”, which has burned around 2,000 acres since Friday morning. The area affected lies between the Purgatory Ski Resort and Hermosa along U.S. 550, which remains closed while firefighters work to control the blaze. The rainfall expected today in this area should be tremendously helpful to their cause, and will hopefully put a damper on future fire threats across the state.

Flooding was not reported on Saturday. 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.