SPM 07-17-2018: Heavy Rainfall over the Southern High Terrains with Burn Scar Flooding Avoided

Issue Date: Tuesday, July 17th, 2018
Issue Time: 10:00 AM MDT

Summary:

Drier air moved into northern Colorado, which limited thunderstorm development over the Front Range, Northern Mountains and Central Mountains yesterday. Subtropical moisture was better able to hold on over the Southeast Mountains, Raton Ridge and San Juan Mountains. Thus, afternoon upslope flow driven thunderstorms were more abundant further south. These storms moved into the eastern plains and brought some much needed rainfall to Las Animas and Baca County in the evening hours. Overnight, an MCS that moved through the NE panhandle and clipped the northeast corner of the state, which brought some heavy rainfall to Sedgwick and Phillips Counties.

As far as totals, the northeast corner of the state was the winner yesterday. A couple CoCoRaHS recorded over an inch of rainfall with radar estimates up to 2 inches. No flooding was reported as of this morning. Several flood advisories were issued yesterday including two for the 416 and Weston Pass burn scars. Thankfully, no mud flows or debris slides were reported. There was a heavy rain report over Cortez of 1.55 inches. This caused street flooding and some minor flooding of apartments. There were two CoCoRaHS reports greater than 1 inch in this area. SNOTEL stations in this area recorded rainfall between 0.9 and 1.5 inches. Over the Southeast Mountains, the Apishapa SNOTEL station near La Veta recorded 1.7 inches over the 24 hour period.

To see how much precipitation fell in your area, scroll down to the 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 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour total precipitation contain bias corrections that are not disaggregated into the hourly estimates, so there will likely be some differences. The accumulation ending time is 6AM of the date shown in the bottom right corner. Also shown optionally are fire burn areas (post 2012), which are updated throughout the season to include new burn areas. The home button in the top left corner resets the map to the original zoom.